H P & the Magic of the Elders of the Universe Pt 1
by jjslll54
Summary: AN: This story has been updated with corrections in tense and few minor changes made. Please enjoy.    Harry and Hermione are genetically engineered beings that were sent to Earth to save it from itself. The Prolog will set the tone for the story. This is part one to cover the pair from the age of eight through the first year at Hogwarts.
1. Prologue

**_Harry Potter and the Magic of the Elders of the Universe Part One_**

_**Chapter 1: Prologue:**_

In the beginning, there was a highly evolved being known only as the Creator. He has no physical body, but his presence is everywhere. After his last universe destroyed itself from constant warfare and greed, he thought and meditated on what went wrong and decided that he had made his dominant species too aggressive. This had been necessary due to the violent nature of the universe itself. Everything had been geared to his dominant species taking over all the galaxies in his universe and living in peace once everything balanced out. This worked out for millions of years until one brilliant scientist developed what he thought would be a way to instantly travel from one galaxy to another without needing the special intergalactic drive ships that were strictly controlled by the Emperor. This method would essentially fold space like folding a piece of paper until the bottom half and top half touched without having to travel the full distance from top to bottom. The problem was that a greedy warlord heard of this and thought it would be a good way to conquer the universe and take over as Emperor due to almost no travel time needed to get to the Emperor's planet with his army. The warlord invaded the scientist's planet and took the prototype ship for his own, not understanding the ship was not ready, and as soon as he tried to use its new drive space started folding in on itself like a black hole and eventually took the universe with it as there was no way to stop it.

Not liking being alone for several billion years, along with needing someone to watch over and guide, as was in his nature, the creator made a new universe. The stars and planets eventually came into being in this new universe and he was happy with his work. He then created the species he wanted to dominate his universe and called them humans. He started them out on a single planet and let them evolve on their own. They eventually moved out into their home galaxy and spread out to inhabit the nearest galaxies around them as well. The difference this time was that the creator was not forgotten as the humans grew in wisdom and maturity.

In the twenty eight known galaxies there are uncounted numbers of planets that are inhabited by humans. The human race itself has two genome types, which are Type "R", or regular humans, who are the main subgroup, with the largest population. They are technologically advanced on most planets with interstellar travel commonplace. The "Shigsu" drive was developed and named after its creator, allowing humans to safely fold space for intergalactic travel, making colonization of other galaxies possible. The type "M", or mages, are humans with extra strands in their DNA that allow them to tap into the various fields of energy surrounding the planets and in space itself. They can store varying amounts of this energy, depending on the person, and it is an integral part of their being usually manifesting itself generally around eight years of age. Because of the extra DNA strands, the mages have a longer life span and are respected as elders on all of the advanced planets. The mages and regular humans can intermarry and often do as love has no bounds. Offspring can go either way and the couples are happy regardless of the outcome.

A very long time ago, somewhere in the Magnus Galaxy, there was a planet called Thebes circling what was then an "M" type Red Giant star. This was a unique planet in that this was the sole location for the oracles of all the known galaxies. The oracles were mages that had an extra gene which allowed their brains to develop more fully making them able to foresee the future and receive from the creator what they called prophecies to help guide the galaxies people through hard times and warn of pending disasters. Thebes was the capitol of the Intergalactic Community of Planets and the oracles were the lawmakers. Each member planet had a mage that represented them and brought any grievances or ideas to the oracles for resolution.

In the main oracle room a young oracle received a vision from the Creator about a couple of individuals who would be born as saviors in a few millennia on a backward planet that was still very primitive and war like. The vision was put into prophetic form, recorded and then put into magical stasis to await its proper time. When the time was right, the Prophesy would be sent to the correct recipients to be recited and acted upon. The star Thebes orbited has since gone nova and all of the oracles have scattered throughout the galaxies. The government had plenty of time to move to another planet but the Oracles decided it would be better to disperse, leaving only the most senior to help make the laws.

On a highly advanced planet, circling a "B" type hot blue star, lived humans that were different than normal. Due to the radiation from the star and the large size of the planet, the people were tougher and more resilient. The heavy gravity of the planet allowed the natives to help other planets with dangerous jobs and provided labor workers as needed. The prophecy was finally received by the first recipient, a young oracle in his first year of service, and the recording was given to the appropriate team to implement the procedure needed to fulfill the prophecy. The Prophesy was about two people on Earth that hadn't been born yet and in order to fulfill the conditions in the Prophesy, the team got to work and created two embryos to be implanted in the mothers to be. The mothers were picked due to inability to conceive on their own, though one of the mothers didn't know this at the time. The embryos were hybrids from native donors from the planet the team was on and the mothers, one taken while she was sleeping, and the other by consent. The team knew their planets star hadn't long to go so decided to take a chance and use native donors for the embryos, unbeknown to the government in charge, in an effort to continue their species. The embryos were injected with Nano probes to help with protection of the children and would also enhance the intelligence of the children making it easier to retain information learned. The protection the Nano probes provided was needed due to the way the radiation from yellow medium type star the planet orbited affected their species. They also helped to keep the children as native as possible to allow their mage abilities to develop normally. The Nano probes would slowly allow the team's species abilities to develop as the children's bodies matured enough to handle them.

Because of laws that govern natural development, planets without faster than light drive are left alone to develop without interference. One such planet is Earth; with rudimentary space flight and fractured nations, the planet is not yet ready to join the wider community. While also having the two types of humans living on the surface, they identify themselves with different names than the rest of the intergalactic community. The mages call themselves witches and wizards, with the term Mage only going to the most powerful, and due to past persecution by whom the magical population call muggles, they keep themselves hidden, having passed laws to keep the magical world secret. It is into this atmosphere that the two children are born with the hope that they will guide the planet to become eligible to join the intergalactic community.


	2. The Interview

**_Chapter 2: The Interview_**

June 20th 1980.

Albus Dumledore is sitting at his desk enjoying a sherbet lemon drop, getting ready to leave for a meeting with a young lady applying for the post of divination, when he hears a knock on the door.

"Enter." Albus calls out.

The door opens to admit Professor McGonagall.

"You sent for me professor?" she asks.

"Have a seat Minerva; I'll not take much of your time. I am just letting you know I have an interview this afternoon at Aberforth's pub for the position of divination."

Professor McGonagall huffs in disdain and comments, "You know how I feel about the subject Albus."

"I feel the same as you on this but decided I should at least give her a hearing as her great grandmother was a well-known seer." He replies.

At the Hogs Head Inn awaits Cassandra Trelawny whom is directly descended from a long line of oracles that had crash landed on Earth millennia ago with no way to call for help. She understands fully about her off world ancestry and while she has the gene to receive visions of Prophesies, it is mostly recessive and she is wondering if she might not ever be the recipient of one. She is determined to follow faithfully in her mother's footsteps however, so learned everything a young oracle should know so she could pass on the knowledge to those interested in the craft. Cassandra is a young for an oracle (age twenty three) and is hoping to convince the headmaster to hire her for the Divination position at Hogwarts as she truly loves children and is hoping to find another oracle like her to train.

Albus makes his way over to the Hogs Head Inn for his scheduled interview at two pm that afternoon. Waving at Aberforth as he enters the pub, he proceeds up the stairs to the room reserved for the interview. He finds Miss Trelawney sitting at a table waiting patiently for him and conjures a nice plushy chair to sit in while he conducts the interview.

"Thank you for seeing me Headmaster," she says politely while standing to shake his hand as he enters the room.

"Not a problem at all," the Headmaster says as he takes his seat," Now why don't you tell me a little about yourself. I know your grandmother was a great seeress but haven't heard anything about your accomplishments."

She blushes a little and says," Thank you for the compliment about my grandmother, she was a great woman and I miss her terribly. I learned everything I know from her and my mother."

She pauses for a moment," May I ask you a question?"

He nods his head indicating for her to go ahead.

"What do you know about seers in general?" she asks.

"Only that they can make predictions and recite prophesies," he says," I generally don't believe in divination as magic that can be taught; you either have the gift or you don't."

"That is partially true Headmaster. You may not know this, but my family is directly descended from the Oracles of Delphi. Family legend says we originally came from the heavens and have been on this planet for millennia. I was taught that a prophecy can only be given to the proper recipient, at the proper time, with certain conditions being met. As far as divination itself goes, Oracles, whom you call seers, can only be found through proper education in the craft. I love children and there is always the possibility that one or two of the students in Hogwarts may turn out to be a true Oracle once they learn what to look for. The other students will at least learn the craft to pass on to their children if they show the signs and need guidance. There is a possibility that there are Oracles out there in the world that were never taught the craft and may or may not ever receive any visions or foresee the future." She tells him.

"I see," He says while contemplating her words," I never thought of it that way. What type of salary are you looking for?"

"You can make the subject an elective and pay me according to how many students sign up for it. I have no real need for the gold as my family has enough to get by on. My need is to pass on my knowledge to the children as I am the last of my line and don't want the family legacy to get lost." She answers back.

"Very well. I will need to talk to my deputy and see if we have the classroom space and get back to you in a few days," he says, thinking he probably wouldn't hire her due to his beliefs.

"Thank you Headmaster, that is all I ask," she says with a smile.

She pushes her chair back to stand and shake his hand again when she freezes up and her eyes gloss over.

Since Albus Dumbledore is the most powerful mage on the planet at this time, the conditions are met for the Prophesy about the two children to be recited and she throws her head back as she receives and speaks the words in an eerie harsh voice:

"**_The one to vanquish the dark lord approaches. Born as the seventh month dies. Born to ones who have thrice defied him. With his soul mate by his side, they will have powers the dark lord knows not. Powers from Heaven and Earth not understood by mortal man. Together they will bring the world into peace and harmony. The ones to vanquish the dark lord approach." _**

As her eyes come back into focus, she stands up to shake his hand as if nothing has happened and notices him looking at her intensely. Professor Dumbledore knows she is not faking it to get the job as he had heard one before about himself years ago during the war with Grindelwald.

She looks around the room nervously and asks," Did something happen I am not aware of? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You don't know do you?" he asks.

"Did I recite a prophecy finally?" she breathes in relief," Do you have a good memory of it?"

He nods and taps his head with his finger against his temple.

"Good, when a master Oracle receives a vision they usually have recording devices to capture the words so action can be taken right away if needed." she says, "I don't need to know what it says. It will have been recorded at the Ministry automatically in the Department of Mysteries and only the subject or subjects it is about may hear it unless you tell someone else. I don't recommend doing that unless the prophesy specifically says you can. The prophecy will fulfill itself in time whether you do anything about it or not and the only way I could have given it to you is if you were supposed to get it in the first place."

"It is obvious you are knowledgeable about how prophesies work, I will hire you for the position of Divination. Please be at the school with a full syllabus one week before school starts on September first." He smiles at her while shaking her hand.

Professor Dumbledore has finally gotten the information he was hoping for when he granted the interview to hopefully end the war. With proof the now Professor Trelawny is a true seer she will need protection from Voldemort the castle can provide while he is also hoping she might have more visions that would help in the war.

Earlier back in the main serving area of the pub, Severus Snape is having a cold one while listening around for news to report to his master Voldemort. Having observed professor Dumbledore go up the stairs, he decides to follow. Crouching down, he sticks his ear to the keyhole in the hopes of picking up some information. He hears the first two lines of what he thinks might be a Prophesy when someone grabs his arm and throws him down the stairs.

"What do you think you are doing!" Aberforth demands.

Snape says nothing and runs out the door to apparate to his master with what he heard. Unbeknown to Snape, this will set off a chain of events which would see his best childhood friend dead and a change of heart and loyalties for him.

Professor Dumbledore, a gentleman in outward appearance, opens the door for Professor Trelawney and together they exit the pub and head their separate ways. She back to her home and he to the castle. While he is walking back he is contemplating what he has learned. He now needs to figure out who the person to be born at the end of July is and how he can control the child as a weapon against Voldemort. He figures the boy child will either be from the Potters or the Longbottoms since both wives are expecting at about the same time around the end of July. What about the soul mate? When will **she** be born and can she be controlled through the boy? Unfortunately for him she has been born already and he will never find out who she is until it is far too late.

Dumbledore being the manipulative man he is has been in charge for too long and wants to be in control of everything to do with the wizarding world for his perceived greater good. Oh well.

ooOOoo


	3. Harry's Birth and an Encounter

**_Chapter 3: Harry's Birth and an Encounter_**

November 2, 1979,

One of the embryo recipients is to be Lily Potter since due to a childhood accident, it was discovered she has internal scaring and they would be extremely lucky to have any children. This doesn't discourage the Potters too much as they decided they could adopt a child to continue the bloodline if she can't produce an heir by her twenty fifth birthday. In the meantime they have been in hiding from Voldemort under the fidelius charm to have a safe place to sleep at night.

While they were asleep this particular night, a portal opens up inside their bedroom and two figures step out. They look at the young couple and place them in stasis for the implantation to come and then take them back through the portal to their planet. To complete the procedure, DNA samples are taken from both parents in order to guarantee blood line and physical attributes. These strands are combined with the donor strands from their planet to complete the embryo and then after healing her scars, implant the embryo into Lilly's womb. Once the healers are sure the implant is going to grow into a healthy baby boy as designed, the couple is delivered back to Earth and put back into bed. The stasis field is removed and the healers returned through the portal to their planet. The portal closes with a slight pop waking the Potters up.

"Did you hear something Lily?" asks James.

"I thought I heard a pop noise, like apparition." Lily answers sleepily.

"I thought so too. I'll check out the house and let you know if anything is wrong or out of place." James says while getting up and putting on his robe.

After thoroughly checking the house and grounds James returns to the bedroom to report his findings to his wife Lily.

"I couldn't find or detect anything wrong. The hominus detection spell revealed nothing." James reassures her.

"Right, let's go back to sleep." Lily yawns.

The next morning, when Lily wakes up, she finds herself feeling queasy in her stomach and has to hurry to the bathroom where she throws up into the toilet.

"What's wrong?" James asks concerned as he holds her hair out of the way while she throws up.

"I feel sick to my stomach all of a sudden." Lily complains.

"I'll call Madame Pomfrey to have her come and check you over." James says worriedly.

He runs to the fireplace and throws in some floo powder. When the flames turn green he calls out: "Madam Pomfrey."

He sticks his head in the flames and sees here in her office looking back at him.

"What can I do for you Mr. Potter?" she asks.

"Poppy, can you come over and check Lily?" James asks," She is having stomach problems this morning."

"Be right there as soon as I get my bag" Poppy confirms.

He pulls his head out of the flames to allow Poppy to come through. The fireplace flares green again and madam Pomfrey steps through, brushing the soot from her clothes.

"Where's the patient?" she asks.

"She is in the kitchen having tea, hoping to calm her stomach down." James answers.

"Lead the way." Poppy says.

They walk into the kitchen where James says: "Poppy is here now and she will fix whatever is wrong, honey."

Poppy takes her wand out and waves it across Lily's stomach. After checking her findings, she casts a spell on Lily causing her stomach to glow blue for a few seconds.

"Well," she says, "there is nothing wrong with you that would make you sick like this except for the fact you are pregnant and expecting a boy."

Lily squeals and jumps into her husband's arms with tears in her eyes. He spins her around laughing and says excitedly," we're finally going to have a baby."

"We'll have to follow tradition and name him Harold James after your father and yourself." Lily declares happily.

"We can call him Harry." James says.

Harold James Potter is born on July 31, 1980, a healthy eight pounds and two ounces, to a very happy Lily and James Potter. He has black hair like his dad and his mother's green eyes. No one notices the intelligent look in his eyes as the Nano probes spread throughout his body insuring all is okay after the birthing process. Harry goes home with his parents a couple of days later to begin his new life.

ooOOoo

Oct 31st 1981:

James and Lily Potter are playing with young Harry the evening of Halloween thinking everything is fine because they agreed with the headmaster that a change of secret keepers was a good idea to throw off the death eaters after having escaped Voldemort for the third time. While playing with Harry, James and Lily feel the wards fall and know that they had been betrayed by Dumbledore since it was his idea to switch secret keepers to Peter Pettigrew and he cast the charm. James yells at Lily to take Harry and go while he holds off Voldemort to give her time to get out. She takes Harry and runs up the stairs while the front door is being blown off the hinges by a blasting curse. Lily felt James die as she tries to apparate out with tears in her eyes. She finds she can't and resigns herself that she's not going to live either. She cries harder now thinking about Harry as she hears the dark lord coming up the stairs.

"Harry, mummy loves you very much and will miss you," she cries.

The Nano-probes in Harry's body moved to strengthen his frame and skin to make him impervious to injury.

"No cry mummy, bad man not hurt Harry!" Harry states emphatically.

She looks into Harry's eyes and gets a moment of clarity as she see the intelligence looking back at her with love just as the door is thrown open by a blasting curse from Voldemort.

"Stand aside girl! I only want the boy!" He demands.

"No, take me instead. Don't kill him, I'll do anything, kill me instead." She pleads.

"As you wish," he points his wand at her.

"Avada Kedavra!" he calls out.

Lily drops to the floor in front of Harry's crib as her life force leaves her. Her spirit lingers on in sadness knowing her son is going to join her and her husband in the afterlife. She is very thrilled by what happens next.

Voldemort looks down at Harry who has stood up in his crib looking up at him defiantly and points his wand again.

"_Now,"_ he thinks leering at the child_," there is no one in my way. The ritual has been done and you young man will be number three."_

He had performed a ritual on his soul hoping to split off another piece into a founders object thought to be in the house. Once again he fires the death curse and to the horror of Voldemort the curse bounces off Harry and with no time to defend it hits him causing his body to be destroyed. All that is left is a green mist where his body should have been that fled into the night. The ritual Voldemort had performed on his soul malfunctioned also. As the death curse hit Harry, the piece of soul the dark lord was going to attach to the Founders object tried to latch onto the open cut made by a piece of shrapnel from the blasted door and couldn't hold on due to the Nano-probes making Harry's blood too different. It disbursed due to the ritual not being completed properly since Harry didn't die and the final words of the ritual not being said. Since Harry's body wasn't strong enough on its own to resist the effects of the shrapnel yet, the Nano-probes went to work on the cut and reduced it down to a thin line like birth mark in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Lily Potter's spirit looks on as all of this happens with a smile on her face while Harry waves goodbye to her sadly.

"I will watch over you always Harry," she whispers to him as she fades away.

ooOOoo

A short while later, after being alerted by his monitoring devices; Dumbledore, along with Hagrid and Harry's godfather Sirius Black show up. He thinks now is a good time to implement his plan for his weapon. He tells Sirius he will take care of Harry, leaving him free to pursue the traitor. Sirius, being an Auror and James partner, thinks this is a good idea and heads out, not knowing the real traitor is standing next to him. The headmaster bundles Harry up and hands him to Hagrid and instructs him to meet him at the Dursley's. After Hagrid leaves, the headmaster gets a piece of parchment and quill and writes a letter to the Dursley's promising payment for watching Harry and making sure there is to be no love in his life. He puts a compulsion charm on the letter just in case, thinking, "That should do nicely."

He then buried the Potters in the family plot saying," I'm sorry James and Lily, but this is for the greater good."

ooOOoo

A short time later, on Privet Dr., all of the street lights start to go out one by one. The lights seem to be sucked into a device held by Dumbledore. He notices a tabby cat sitting on a wall watching everything going on while wondering why she has been there all day.

"Good evening Professor McGonagall," He says.

"Good evening Albus. Why have I been here all day watching these muggles?" she asks with disdain after morphing back into herself.

"James and Lily Potter were killed earlier today by Voldemort, while young Harry survived somehow," he says," I need to keep him away from any Death Eaters that might want to find him for revenge."

With tears in her eyes she says," You can't possibly be thinking of leaving Harry here! I've been observing them all day and they are…"

"His only remaining relatives." he interrupts.

"Just the same, they are the worse sort of muggles imaginable." She says.

"_I know,"_ he thinks.

"We have no choice. Ah, here comes Hagrid now." Albus says.

Hagrid lands the motorcycle he was flying and takes off his goggles before handing Harry to the professor.

"Here's the little tyke Headmaster, sound asleep." Hagrid whispers quietly.

The headmaster places Harry on the porch, tucking the note in the blanket and everyone leaves. A few minutes later Albus returns and sets up the wards for Privet Dr. to keep Harry submissive and protect the house. He doesn't know the submissive wards won't work on Harry, however Harry's magic allows the protective wards to take. After Albus is done the lights come back on one at a time and Albus disapperates away just as the last light comes on. All is again quiet on Privet Drive.

When morning comes, Petunia Dursley goes to the front door to get the paper when she finds Harry on the porch and screams:

"Vernon, come quick, there is a baby on our porch."

Vernon comes running to see what is going on; looking at the boy they both recognize Harry and are not pleased to find him here. Vernon picks him up and takes him in right away hoping the neighbors didn't hear Petunia's scream.

"There's a note in the blanket," Petunia says.

Vernon opens the note and reads it.

"It's from that freak Dumbledore. He says he will pay us to watch him and to make sure he has no love in his life." reads Vernon.

They both smirk, "We can do that" they say together.


	4. A Trip to the Zoo and Reconciliation

**_Chapter 4: A Trip to the Zoo and Reconciliation_**

June 23, 1988 almost seven years later:

The Durlseys pride themselves on being as normal as you can get. They live in a normal house at number Four Privet Drive which looks like all the other normal houses on their street with three bedrooms and a guest bedroom. The third and smallest bedroom was Dudley's second bedroom and was used to stash all of his broken toys. While Harry was growing up, he was shown no love and made to live in the cupboard under the stairs, also, he was made to do all of the chores like: cooking, mowing the yard and washing the car whether it needed it or not. The Dursleys' knew he was magical, coming from Lilly and James as he did, and thought they could beat the magic out him, even breaking a cricket bat across his back once, they hated him so much. The Nano-probes would just harden his skin, not allowing him to be hurt so Harry just stood there and took it. He wasn't shown any love by the Dursley's, but the probes assured him he wouldn't have to stay here much longer, for which he was glad. On the other hand, his cousin Dudley was spoiled rotten. He got everything he wanted including second and third helpings at meals making him very fat. The one thing Harry learned from the Dursleys was how not to act towards others.

On this particular day they were going to the zoo because it was Dudley's eighth birthday. He comes waddling down the stairs and jumps up and down a few times over the cupboard showering Harry with dust and says:

"Get up Potter! We're going to the zoo."

After several hard raps on the door, Aunt Petunia unlocks the cupboard and says:

"Get up, cook the breakfast and don't burn the bacon, if you know what's good for you."

"Yes Aunt Petunia." Harry answers.

Harry cooks the breakfast and after serving everyone else, is allowed only one piece of bacon and dry toast with a glass of tepid tap water. After he finishes, he is made to clean the kitchen and put away the dishes.

"I'm only taking you with us because Mrs. Figg has broken her leg and I am not leaving you here to eat all the food while we are gone!" Uncle Vernon declares.

"Thank you, Uncle Vernon." Harry says.

"Don't thank me. Just be glad I'm not locking you in your cupboard instead. And another thing, there will be no funny business. You know the kind I mean!" Uncle Vernon says.

Harry isn't sure what uncle Vernon is talking about. He knows he is different but doesn't know about his magical background. He knows that something is talking to him in his head and reassuring him that everything will work out. They all get in the car and leave for the zoo.

When they arrive Uncle Vernon reminds Harry about the funny business and they all go in. Harry had never been anywhere before so was trying to see everything, all at the same time. As they entered the reptile house Harry notices a big snake in a glass cage. He walks over to investigate after Dudley fails to get it to respond.

"You must hate being locked up all the time. They lock me up a lot too." Harry says to the snake. The snake raises its head up and nods in agreement.

"You can understand me?" Harry asks. The snake nods again.

About this time Dudley notices the snake had risen up and pushes Harry down on the floor so he could see. This makes Harry upset as he is very tired of being pushed around by Dudley. He scowls at his cousin and then is very surprised at what happens next. The glass around the large snake's enclosure disappears, causing Dudley, who was leaning on the glass, to fall into the cage where he freezes up with freight, while the snake makes its way out. The snake slithers out of the cage and hisses at Harry as it passes:

"Thanks amigo, Burma here I come."

"You're welcome." Harry hisses back in astonishment as it slithers past him.

A moment later the glass then reappears, trapping Dudley and he is banging on it from the inside of the enclosure to get out.

"What did you do?" Uncle Vernon roars.

"I didn't do anything. Dudley pushed me down and then started banging on the glass. I thought Dudley had broken the glass because he was hitting it rather hard. Strange it came back again. How is that possible?" Harry asks.

"How indeed, I told you no funny business." Uncle Vernon seethes.

Harry still doesn't know what funny business his uncle is talking about (he couldn't make glass just disappear. Could he?) But he is punished anyway. They make him stay in his cupboard for a week only being let out for food, chores and restroom use. Dudley just smirks at Harry as he watches him working. Harry is embarrassed to have to ask to go to the restroom all the time by banging on his cupboard door to get someone's attention.

On Harry's eighth birthday something happens to him that will make life a lot easier for him. While Harry is sleeping in his cupboard, his Nano-probes have determined his body has matured enough and activate fully, releasing his suppressed powers and educating him on his full heritage. He learns about his other worldly powers that will come to him as circumstances dictate and also learns that he will become immortal as soon as he bonds with his soul mate. As his skin cells have finally matured enough, he no longer needs the probes to protect him from harm and he becomes a lot stronger. He is taught that absolute secrecy is required to hide his abilities from others and the exact nature of his heritage is not to be known by anyone except his soul mate, who already knows, having already come into hers by being a few months older. He is taught he could not use his new powers to exact revenge on the Dursleys as it is morally wrong. After the lessons are absorbed by Harry the probes send out a signal that only his soul mate will be able to receive an understand. This signal is to let her know he is now ready for her.

When his Aunt raps on the cupboard door and yells at Harry to get up he discovers his eyesight has been repaired and he can see clearly, even in the dark cupboard. He inadvertently hit the cupboard door while stretching to wake up, breaking it off its hinges, lock and all, causing the door to fly across the room and hit the wall on the other side. As he climbs out wide eyed at what he has done, his Aunt Petunia screams, bringing his uncle running. Vernon, spotting the damage to the door, loses it, takes a swing at Harry with his fist, intending to knock some teeth out for destroying his property. Vernon, at first, can't understand why his arm suddenly stops and he doesn't feel his fist make contact with Harry's face like it should because he is still in a rage over the broken door. He decides in his rage that he has just missed or Harry has moved out of the way, (how dare him) enraging him further, and is trying to pull his unmoving arm back for another try when he perceives the boy has actually caught his fist with his hand in an iron grip, not allowing him to move. Petunia and Dudley can't believe what they are seeing. All three take a second look at the cupboard door which has been destroyed and then look back at Harry noticing his eyes have a soft glow in them.

"You will never hit me again Uncle Vernon. You have been nothing but nasty and mean to me my whole life. What I don't understand is why you are so mean to **me** and treat **Dudley** like a king. Dudley is just like you Uncle Vernon; he is nothing but a bully to the neighborhood kids and beats them up all the time for no reason just because he can. He steals their money and anything else they might have on them." Harry says calmly while releasing his uncle's hand," if he keeps on like this he will end up in juvenile hall and it will be your fault."

Vernon backs up slowly from Harry and says fearfully," Something is different about you boy. How did you do that to the door on your cupboard and stop me from hitting you?"

Harry has tears in his eyes as he explains what he learned last night while sleeping.

"I came into my heritage while I slept last night and learned the truth about my family," he explains, " My mother, your sister Aunt Petunia, was killed by a bad wizard and he tried to kill me too. He had red eyes and stood there looking down at me after killing my mother. He pointed his stick at me and I saw a green light come out of it which bounced off of me and hit him instead. He disappeared and there was this green smoke left over that flew away out the window."

Petunia gasps, interrupting Harry when she hears this. Even though she hasn't told anyone, especially Vernon, she is actually a squib and now understands that Voldemort is not really dead after all. Dumbledore didn't mention any of this in the letter and she is scared for her family now that she knows what really happened.

Harry continues," Then some strangers came and brought me here. I didn't understand then what happened but I do now and I feel like I should have been treated as family by you since that is what I am. How could you not be sad that your sister was killed, are you that mean? Um, my education taught me a couple of other things that I don't understand but I will tell you anyway because you **are** family and even though you have been mean to me I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Aunt Petunia, you are normal but Uncle Vernon and Dudley are way too overweight and short tempered. Being overweight is not good for them and will cause them to have trouble with their hearts and blood pressure, whatever that is, I just know you can die from that and I don't want that to happen."

"Harry? " Petunia asks, her eyes tearing, "I didn't know Lilly was killed by Voldemort. The letter just said she was killed in an accident and I had heard later that he died somehow for which I was grateful. Ever since you came and we opened that letter things have been different. I never hated my sister before, and you are family and I love you. It's just so confusing as to why I would be mean to you like I have been. I would never have married Vernon if he was a bully, He was the nicest man I knew and I fell in love with him."

"Do you still have the letter?" Harry asks.

She nods that she does.

"May I see it?" Harry asks.

She brings the letter down from the attic and hands it to Harry. He opens it and feels the compulsion charm on the letter. Even though he doesn't know what it is, Harry can see it that whatever is on the letter is affecting his Uncle as he is getting red in the face again. He looks at the letter and concentrates on making the feeling go away; while he is doing this, his hand starts to glow softly as the magic is drained out of the letter and he notices an immediate change in his uncle as his face is now returning to normal.

"That should help I think. Do you feel any different?" Harry asks." I don't know why this Mr. Dumbledore lied to you about my parents but you know the truth now and it should be ok."

They all three nod yes and as the compulsion washes away they all get teary eyed as they realize what they have done.

Vernon walks up to Harry and kneels down and pulls him into a hug and says:

"I'm sorry Harry for the way we treated you all these years. I would like to make it up to you somehow."

"It's ok Uncle Vernon; you never really hurt me when you hit me. I just didn't understand why. I do now and I forgive you and hope we can be a family again after the bad guys are gone for good." Harry says," my soul mate will be over to pick me up in a little while and you will forget about me until it is safe again."

"Soul mate," Uncle Vernon asks," what's that?"

"She is the person I was sent here by Prophesy to be with for all eternity and to save the world." Harry answers.

"Uhhh, okay, why don't we sit down and watch a little telly while we wait for her to come" Vernon says while scratching his head.

"Thanks, Uncle Vernon," Harry says.

Aunt Petunia rushes into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the family feeling like a heavy weight has been lifted from her shoulders. She hums merrily as she works.

ooOOoo


	5. A Bonding as Foretold

**_Chapter 5: A Bonding as Foretold_**

In another part of London in the township of Crawley Hermione Granger's eyes glaze over for a few seconds while her Nano-probes receive the signal from Harry.

She looks up from her breakfast plate and says," It's time to get my soul mate as he has come into his heritage and is ready for our destiny to be fulfilled."

Her parents look at her with knowing eyes.

Hermione is the product of genetic engineering from planets Earth of the Milky Way galaxy and Solust of the Genova Galaxy. Her parents are both grateful about the deal they had made with that clinic. To them the deal is worth it to have Hermione as their child since they couldn't have one on their own. It was the best they could get as local medicine wasn't up to the task and they were desperate for a child. She looks just like she came from her Earth parents in every way with her mother's bushy hair and her father's chocolate brown eyes. It doesn't matter to them she has a destiny to fulfill or a soul mate. She is theirs and they lover her with everything they have.

"Do you know where he lives now and what his name is?" her father asks.

"Finally I do. He lives at number 4 Privet Drive, Little Winging, Surry. His name is Harry James Potter."

After finishing breakfast they all get into the car and head out. The drive is about three hours in heavy traffic so they pull into Number Four about eleven am. Dudley hears a car pull up outside and looks out the window. He has never seen that type of car before and calls out to his dad:

"What kind of car is that?"

Vernon takes a quick peek over his sons shoulder and his eyes get wide.

"That's a Rolls Royce Phantom. These people are very high class. You be on your best behavior." Vernon says.

"Okay, dad" Dudley says.

Vernon hurries to puts on his best jacket, trying to look important.

Hermione gets out of the car and walks up to the door where she rings the doorbell with her parents standing behind her. Vernon answers the door, wondering why such high class people would come to his house.

"May I help you?" he asks politely.

"We are here to pick up Harry." Hermione says.

"You must be the young lady he told me about. Please come in, he is waiting for you in the den," Vernon says.

He turns to Hermione's parents and sticks out his hand," Vernon Dursley; Director of Grunning's Drills. Very pleased to meet you. We had a very interesting thing happen today that changed our perspective on everything."

Mr. Granger shakes his hand with a skeptical look on his face, having heard from Hermione about them.

"What happened," he asks as Vernon gives him a letter to read.

"Mr. Dumbledore left Harry on our doorstep sometime during the night of October thirty first nineteen eighty one like a bottle of milk when he was a baby and we found him when we went to get the paper. This is the letter that he left with Harry on the doorstep. It says Harry's parents died in an accident and we were to take him in and show him no love. Harry says there was something on the letter, which I'm sure was magic, to make us do what it said. He removed the magic this morning and it lifted a great weight of guilt off our souls, especially when he forgave us. Then he told us you were coming." Vernon says with a smile. He looks at Hermione, who is listening politely," well, go on girl, he's waiting for you."

Hermione blushes and walks past Vernon to see Harry standing there staring wide eyed at her.

"What's wrong Harry?"

"I didn't know you would be so pretty."

She blushes a pretty pink and says shyly "Thanks Harry. You're not so bad yourself."

Both families gather in the den to watch as Hermione reaches out and takes Harry's hands in hers and immediately they start to glow. Their eyes lock and glaze over when they start to chant as one:

"**_Our minds….our bodies…..two souls merge…..our lives immortal….together forever and ever unto eternity." _**

The two kids are compelled to kiss each other and when they do, flare so brightly everyone has to look away. A massive magical pulse flashes out from them, blasting all the windows from the house. No one inside is hurt. Luckily, no one is outside at the time either.

Dumbledore feels the pulse when it reaches him and thinks that now he will find out whom Harry's soul mate is and then gain full control over them. That is until he looks over at his monitoring instruments and notice they are all melted to slag. Fawkes just twitters at him amused; as if a mere mortal can control a pair of immortals. Albus just looks at Fawkes annoyed while getting up to go to Privet Drive to see what caused the pulse he felt. The Ministry of Magic also detects the pulse, just before all their monitoring instruments melt just like the ones in Dumbledore's office. The pulse misses a diary in Malfoy Mansion because it is well shielded against magic, making it dormant and it is lucky for Voldemort that he is out of the country with his snake, Nagini, at the time as he might not have survived the pulse as just a spirit.

At Gringotts Bank all the goblins look up as one and grin. For a goblin, with all those teeth, that is a very scary sight to a non-goblin. Ragnok, the bank manager and leader of the goblin nation comes in and says:

"Lock down the bank. I want all Potter accounts locked down and a full investigation into any and all anomalies or withdrawals; I want everyone working on this. The Elders from the Prophesy have bonded. It will be three years before we see them, but I want everything perfect by the time they do come to the bank. Recover any monies taken illegally and make sure their investments are secure. Our salvation is at hand and we will offer whatever we can to help them reach their goals. We will soon not have to bow down to wizards any longer."

Everyone scrambles to do what they are told. After the initial audit is done the bank reopens and everything returns to business as usual with the wizard customers none the wiser as to why the bank was closed for three days.

Back at the Dursley's, when the couple regains their senses after the pulse dies down, they look at each other with a huge smiles on their faces, and say to each other in unison," I love you."

Harry laughs while Hermione giggles and then she looks at her dad and says," We need to leave right away. The old meddler is on his way and will try to take Harry and me away."

"Over my dead body," Mr. Granger declares," everyone in the car, quickly now."

They get in the car and drive back home to Crawley. Not a scratch is on the car due to the flare up of magic.

About a minute after they leave, Albus Dumbledore arrives to check on Harry and is surprised at all the damage.

"This won't do at all," he thinks.

He waves his wand and all the external damage is repaired. He walks into the house uninvited and asks where Harry is.

Vernon is very upset that someone invites himself into his house like that without knocking.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house? Who is Harry?" Vernon demands.

Dumbledore is surprised at the Dursley's reaction to him being there and says," What do you mean, who is Harry? He is your nephew, Harry Potter. You have been raising him for the last almost seven years per my instructions."

"I don't know what you are talking about. Would you please leave before I call the police?" Vernon states, not really afraid as the intruder is obviously very old and probably senile.

Albus thinks something very strange is going on. He pulls his wand out and freezes the family. He uses legilimens on each member of the family and finds they are telling the truth as far as they know. They have no memory or knowledge of Harry ever being there. Albus apologizes and leaves, wondering what happened to cause this. Vernon is just glad the intruder leaves peacefully.

"We're getting an alarm system," Vernon grumbles," People walking into someone's house like that uninvited."

Petunia agrees with him as she goes into the kitchen to prepare lunch for the family.

ooOOoo


	6. Together at Last

_**Chapter 6: Together at Last**_

While driving back to Crawley Harry turns to Hermione and says," Your parents seem to be okay with picking me up. They haven't said a word."

"My parents know about the Nano probes and our heritage since they agreed to the procedure. Your parents hadn't been told yet as our home planet of Solust was destroyed shortly after your mother gave birth to you. If they hadn't been killed we would have grown up together." Hermione answers.

"Oh, that would have been nice. I've never had any friends before." Harry mourns.

"We're soul mates Harry," Hermione says with a smile while holding his hand," We will be together for a long time."

Harry smiles and says, "Together forever as one."

"As one," Hermione answers.

Traffic isn't as bad for the return trip and they soon arrive at Twenty Three Denham Place in Crawley.

"We're home," Hermione announces.

The Grangers live in a three story Tudor type home with a basement on ten acres and a pool in the back yard. The drive they turn into is a long two hundred meter drive up to the house with a circle around a fountain up to the front entrance. The property has beautiful hedges and an immaculate lawn with Ivy growing on the front walls of the house. The back property is open land that hasn't been developed much but has been in the family for years.

"This is very nice." Harry says in awe.

"We have a pool along with a nice garden out back and this is now your home as well," Mrs. Granger says.

They get out of the car and go inside. The main doors open into a grand entrance area with wide stair cases curving left and right up to the first floor where there is a wide balcony that overlooks the front entrance. The house consists of five bedrooms on the second floor while most of the first floor houses a large library. The ground floor is taken up by the kitchen and formal dining area along with a large sitting room with a big screen TV and comfortable furniture. Also on the ground floor is the Grangers office for their dental business. They have a specialized clientele that earn them a lot of money for the cosmetic work they do.

"Let me show you our room and then we will see about getting you a new wardrobe." Hermione says.

She takes his hand and leads him upstairs to show him their room. They are staying together, because as soul mates, they need to be in constant contact once the bond is initiated. Hermione's parents understand this and as they are only eight years old do not have to worry about anything else going on.

"No more cupboard." Harry whispers.

Hermione hears him and exclaims," What did you say?"

Harry bows his head red faced and tells her about living in the cupboard under the stairs. He tells her about the abuse and everything. Hermione is crying as he finishes and hugs and kisses him.

"You are safe here with me," she says emphatically," Our nano-probes have been activated fully and we can never be hurt again."

"Yea, it sure will be nice not to have to worry about bullies anymore." Harry responds.

"We'll still have to deal with them," Hermione continues," but at least it with you here now it will be easier."

"I'll be there to help from now on. I'm happily looking forward to not having to hold back in school because of Dudley. I can finally make good grades without being punished." Harry says.

"We can do well together and be study partners. Maybe we can even get ahead a bit." Hermione says excitedly.

"I'd like that very much," Harry says.

After setting up the table in the kitchen Mrs. Granger walks to the base of the stairs.

"Come on down, lunch is ready," she calls up.

"We're coming." Hermione calls out.

They go down to the kitchen for lunch where they each have a roast beef sandwich and chips with fruit for dessert.

"That was delicious Mrs. Granger," Harry says, "Best lunch I ever had."

"Didn't you get to eat at the Dursley's?" She asks.

"I got to fix all the meals, but didn't get to eat any of them," Harry answers, "All I got was bread and water. If it wasn't for magic and the nano-probes, I probably would have starved to death."

After hearing that Mrs. Granger is furious. "Let me get them in my dental chair for just a few minutes, please lord."

"It's okay Mrs. Granger. The probes tell me they don't even remember I was ever there. They also tell me the detection devices Dumbledore had monitoring me have been destroyed beyond repair as have the magic detectors at the ministry. This means we can do magic, once we learn how, without them knowing." Harry says.

She smiles at him, gives him a hug, while she tousles his hair.

"Who's up for a trip to Harrods?" Mrs. Granger then asks.

"We are!" Hermione exclaims," Harry needs clothes and new shoes."

"That's why we are going. Let's get in the car and go." Mrs. Granger declares.

They all load up in the car and drive to Harrods for a new wardrobe for Harry. He gets ten polo shirts, along with shorts and jeans to go with them. Harry also gets a couple of dress jackets and slacks with some nice trainers along with new socks and boxers. All in all, Harry comes out looking like a million pounds. He is very glad to dump the rags his relatives made him wear. He feels a lot better about himself with new clothes that fit.

"You look very handsome in your new clothes Harry," Hermione says while blushing.

"Thanks, you look very beautiful yourself Hermione." Harry says in return, also blushing.

Even though they are both blushing now, Harry leans in and kisses her briefly on the lips. They lock hands and take all their packages out to the car for the trip home. After they get home, Harry takes all of his new clothes and put them away in the closet. The closet is a large walk in type, so Harry takes one side while Hermione has the other. The Grangers also bought a second desk and set of bookshelves for Harry. He is now ready for school when the time comes.

The rest of the summer goes well for Harry and Hermione as they grow closer to each other and do everything together. Harry learns how to swim in the Grangers pool and how to play golf with Mr. Granger as a father son team at the golf club. As summer comes to a close Harry and Hermione start preparing for school by finding out what books are needed for classes and studying ahead as much as they can before school starts. Hermione is excited that she would now have someone at school that wouldn't shun her for being a bookworm and super smart.

ooOOoo


	7. Diagon Alley, Marriage and Being Elders

**_Chapter 7: Diagon Alley, Marriage, and being Elders _**

It's the summer of '91 and Harry Potter turns eleven years old. He wakes up on the morning of his birthday very excited because they are going to the amusement park today as part of the celebration. As he is sitting down at the breakfast table there is heard a tapping at the window. They all look up and see three owls hovering on the window sill with letters attached to their legs. Harry opens the window and lets the owls in where they all alight on the kitchen counter and stick a leg out each. There are two brown barn owls and one proud eagle owl with a Gringotts medallion around its neck. Harry takes the letters from the owls and they all fly off.

"Hermione, one of these is for you but, look at the name on it." Harry says while handing her a letter.

"Those should be our Hogwarts letters Harry." Hermione says.

Taking the letter from Harry, Hermione looks at the address and squeaks, "Oh my."

"What is it honey?" Mrs. Granger asks.

"They put me down as Mrs. Potter. I'm guessing this is why I didn't get a letter last year on my birthday. I didn't know anyone knew we were married," Hermione says. "They waited until Harry turned eleven to send our letters."

Mrs. Granger smiles and says," Well, you are soul mates after all. I guess the magical world recognizes your bond."

"I suppose; are you okay with them knowing Harry?" Hermione asks timidly.

"Of course I'm okay with it. I love you with every fiber of my being." Harry states forcefully.

Hermione flings herself into Harry's arms crying, with all her insecurities gone, and kisses him, putting all of her love into the kiss.

"You know just the right thing to say to make me happy Harry." Hermione gushes.

"What's does the other letter say, Harry?" Mr. Granger asks smiling at their antics.

"It's from Gringotts. Let's have a look." Harry says while picking the letter up after dropping it when Hermione tackled him.

Harry breaks the seal on the tube and pulls out a piece of rolled parchment. He unrolls the parchment and begins to read.

_To Mr. and Mrs. Potter,_

_This letter is to inform you that you are eligible to claim your inheritance as Lord Potter since you are the last remaining Potter and have reached the age of eleven. If you wish to do this, please come to the main branch of Gringotts in Diagon Alley at your earliest convenience. You can gain access to the alley through the Leaky Cauldron at 720 Charring Cross Rd. Ask someone inside to open the gateway for you and look for the tall white building at the end of the alley. We await your pleasure._

_Sharptooth,_

_Inheritance dept._

"Wow, I didn't know I was a Lord." Harry says in awe. "I guess that makes you Lady Potter then."

Hermione smiles at Harry sweetly, and then they each open their other letters, reading the invitation to attend school and what books and supplies they will need.

"I wonder how we are going to answer these letters Harry. It says to owl your reply by August fifteenth." Hermione wonders.

Just as she says this, another owl flies in the window and lands on the table and sticks out its leg.

"What a smart bird you are. Hold on a minute." Hermione coos at the owl, who puffs out its chest proudly at the praise.

She runs to the sitting room to get a pen and some stationary and writes:

_Dear Professor McGonagall,_

_Harry and I will be delighted to attend Hogwarts School this fall. We are looking forward to being taught by you and the other professors._

_Sincerely,_

_Harry and Hermione Potter_

She rolls up the letter and attaches it to the owl's leg which then takes off, flying north. Shortly after the owl flies out the window, there is a knock on the front door. Hermione goes to answer it and finds a strangely dressed woman standing on the front porch. She is dressed all in black and has a pointed witch's hat on her head.

"Is this the Granger residence?" She asks while looking at her note, "I'm Professor McGonagall from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm looking for Hermione Granger and.."

She looks at the note again but can't make out the second name and continues," There is a second name on here but I can't seem to read it. Maybe you can, since they are supposed to live here too."

She hands Hermione the note.

"Yes, this is the Granger residence," She takes the note from Mrs. McGonagall and reads it.

Chuckling, she says," I can see why you can't read this and the other person is here. Won't you come in?"

Hermione shows Professor McGonagall through the entrance way into the sitting room and invites her to sit down.

The professor asks," Miss Granger, are your parents here? I will need to speak with them and this other person as well."

"Yes they are home, along with the other person on your list. I haven't been Miss Granger since I was eight years old and the other person is my husband, Harry James Potter. My correct name is Mrs. Hermione Jane Potter."

Professor McGonagall gasps," Harry Potter has been missing for three years and no one can find him."

"He's been living here since we picked him up from the Dursley's three years ago. They haven't had any memory of Harry since our bond initialized and he has been safe here ever since. Let me get him and our parents and introduce you." Hermione says.

As she gets up to go get her parents and Harry they walk into the sitting room wondering who was at the front door. Harry walks over to stand next to Hermione and takes her hand while their parents each take a seat to await an introduction to the stranger sitting in their sitting room.

Hermione looks at her parents and says," This is Professor McGonagall from Hogwarts. She has come to explain our letters and why mine says Hermione Potter on it instead of Granger when we haven't told anybody about our marriage."

Professor McGonagall looks at Hermione and her parents and says," Thank you. As Mrs. Potter points out, my name is Professor McGonagall and yes I am from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The letters are addressed magically and I never see them. The Headmasters signature, on the bottom of the letter, is also done magically. I get my lists from professor Dumbledore and apparently magic kept him from seeing your real name for some reason. I am here to introduce you to the magical world and take you shopping for your supplies if you need me to."

Hermione responds, "Pleasure to meet you. We sent our acceptance reply by owl just before you knocked. We already know we are magical and were just waiting for someone to contact us. If you don't mind a stop at Gringotts first, we would be happy to let you take us there but we would prefer to go by car so our parents can come too."

"That will be fine." Professor McGonagall says," You are my only stop for today."

They all get in the car and make their way to 720 Charring Cross Rd. where they find a parking space nearby. (Just pretend there actually are spaces available)

Mr. Granger says," I can see a fuzzy outline of something where 720 should be."

Professor McGonagall looks at him oddly and says." There is a muggle 'notice me not' charm on 720. The fact that you can see anything tells me you have magical ancestry, even if you are not magical yourself. If each of you will hold one of Harry or Hermione's hands you will be able to see it more clearly. It keeps non magical people from accidentally wandering into the magical world."

They hold hands and cross the street to go inside. Once inside, one of the patrons sees Harry's scar and shouts: "My word. It's Harry Potter."

Everyone crowds around to shake his hand, honored to meet him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter. Thank you for what you did for us." says a Mr. Diggle, shaking his hand vigorously while speaking for everyone, "A pleasure indeed."

Professor McGonagall notices a man wearing a turban standing off to the side and brings Harry and Hermione over to meet him.

"Good to see you professor." She says, and then turns to Harry," This is Professor Quirrell, your Defense against the Dark Arts teacher."

"N n n nice t t to m meet you Mr. P P Potter." He stutters, not wanting to touch Harry for some reason.

"It's very nice to meet you as well. Hermione and I look forward to being in your class." Harry replies.

They proceed through the back door and stop in front of a brick wall at an apparent dead end. With Harry and Hermione paying close attention to her actions, Professor McGonagall pulls out her wand and taps a sequence of bricks on the wall, ("Three up...two across..."), causing the bricks to roll back to each side forming an arch.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!" the professor exclaims.

Harry and Hermione are awed at the sight. The alley is crowded with witches and wizards doing their shopping, crisscrossing the alley every which way, making it hard to navigate. There are things like pumpkins for sale, bats in windows, and a broom hanging from a display in front of one of the shops. They also spot a trunk shop, a robe store with school robes displayed in the window and soon to be Hermione's favorite place, Flourish and Blotts, Fine and Rare Books, as they make their way through the crowd and up the stairs to the bank entrance. As soon as the door guards see Harry and Hermione, they immediately get down on one knee and bow.

One of the guards says, "Wait here please."

Harry and Hermione look at each other and shrug their shoulders.

The guard goes into the bank to inform his boss the Potters have arrived.

"The bank is now closed for the next hour." The bank manager says coming out of his office.

He then shoves everyone out the door while he beckons the group in and closes the doors with a loud bang. As soon as they are inside, the manager drops to one knee and bows.

He says, "I am Ragnok, the leader of the Goblin peoples, welcome to the Magical World, Elders. We, The Goblin Nation, are humbled by your presence."

Harry and Hermione's nano-probes quickly update them on the situation and their official status on this planet.

"Please arise, sir goblin. You are among equals. We see no difference in status in our peoples. We were sent here to clean up this planet and get it ready to join the intergalactic community. This will obviously take a while, as we are just getting started. We came to claim the Potter lordship and get some gold for school supplies. May your gold flow freely and your enemies be crushed under your feet." Harry proclaims in perfect gobbledygook.

Professor McGonagall and the Grangers are astonished by what they just witnessed, while not understanding a word Harry said.

"I'll just sit over here while you complete your business," Professor McGonagall says.

Ragnok stands up and leads Harry, Hermione and the Grangers through a series of tunnels and walkways to his office where he is going to handle all Potter business himself.

He sets two bowls on the table, hands each of them an ornate dagger, and says," I am honored you spoke to us in our language Elder. I just need a drop of blood from each of you to establish your true identities which will get you set up in the magical world for anything you need."

Harry and Hermione look at each other before saying to Ragnok, "The daggers won't work as our skin is impervious, but we have a way to give you a drop for your purpose."

They each hold a finger over a bowel and the nano-probes push one drop of blood from each of them into the bowls. As the blood hits each bowl a loud sizzling sound is heard and smoke rises from each bowl. Six ring boxes appear on the table, three in front of Hermione and three in front of Harry, along with seven keys. Ragnok looks astonished and then starts grinning with a feral look on his face. "This is going to put one over on those uppity purebloods." He says gleefully.

"Pardon?" Harry asks.

"Some purebloods, like the Malfoys, strut around like they own the place. Mr. Malfoy is not even a Lord; the Malfoy family is just a minor family that has made some gold, mostly through thievery and cheating. The majority of their gold comes from the dowry paid by the Black family for the marriage of Narcissa Black to Lucius Malfoy. He is nothing more than a death eater that bought his way out of prison all those years ago. He doesn't have an honest bone in his body, yet he thinks because he is a so called 'pureblood' he is superior to all others. Unfortunately, he is teaching his philosophy to his son Draco. It's very disgraceful. The Potters on the other hand have been around since before Merlin. This makes you the Lord of a most ancient and most noble house where you are higher ranked than them. Being Elders puts you both at the very top; even above Dumbledore."

"Thanks for the information. I'm sure I can find a use for it in the future." Harry says," we're not ready to lead the world yet. We will need to acquire experience and wisdom before then."

They all look at the ring boxes and keys and Harry has a questioning look on his face.

Ragnok says, "This is going to be a shock to the wizarding world when they find out, but I was hoping this would be the case. Those are the rings for all four Founders and the Potter rings. The keys are for your vaults. The Potters have three vaults, your main family vault, an heirloom vault and your trust vault. Each of the Founders vaults has mostly books and heirlooms in them along with a fair amount of gold. This makes you the richest wizard and witch in the world. You own Hogwarts and the Village of Hogsmeade. The Potters own several muggle and magical businesses including Microsoft, Grunnings Drills, where your uncle works, and the Daily Prophet. You will definitely have the funding needed to accomplish all of yours goals elders."

He takes a minute to order refreshments and take a short break. They enjoy their tea and biscuits for a bit and then Ragnok continues:

"A little history is in order for you to understand why there are two rings for each of you. Hogwarts was officially founded by four friends around Nine Eighty AD, you know their names. All four founders had husbands and wives of their own that pitched in and helped turn the castle they were given into a school. Despite what wizard legend says, Salazar Slytherin did not have a parting of ways with the other founders. He left the school, yes, but it was on another scouting mission for more magical children to bring to the school. He was killed in a riding accident while on his mission. His horse had found a fox den entrance and lost its footing, falling over and crushing Salazar in the process. His body was returned by the goblins of the time and he is buried on the grounds of Hogwarts along with the other three founders. History is always written by the victors and when the Normans came in ten sixty six the invading wizards of the time tried to take control of Hogwarts and failed. When the goblins brought Salazar's body back, the Normans claimed they had killed him because he was a dark lord and was evil as payback for not being able to take the castle. The label stuck and that is why Slytherin house is thought to be evil. I hope you can get the truth out there to help end the bitter rivalry between houses. This record is in our archives if the wizards ever want to know the truth. The Founders families had children and grandchildren like everyone else, with offspring intermarrying within the four families. Eventually, according to your bloodline Lord Potter, you are descended from Godric Gryffindor through your father and Helga Hufflepuff through your mother's side of the family. This is why you seem to be brave and bold while being very loyal to your family and friends. Lady Potter, believe it or not both of your parents have magical bloodlines despite not having magic themselves. Your father is descended from Salazar Slytherin through his father and your mother is descended from Rowena Ravenclaw through her mother. So you are not really a true muggle born witch just like Harry's mother was not really muggle born either. Magic just skipped a generation or two. This is why you are studious and smart with the cunning it takes to see your plans through. With Lord Potter by your side, there is nothing you cannot accomplish."

The Grangers eyes get real big when they hear what Ragnok says. They were disappointed magic skipped them, but glad Hermione is magical and happy Harry has come into their lives. After another short break for refreshments, Ragnok looks at Harry and says:

Put the Potter ring on your right index finger and it should shrink to fit. Then put the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff rings on the same finger and they will merge with the Potter ring. Lady Potter, the box on the left is for the lady of the house. It goes on the right ring finger. The same goes for the Slytherin and Ravenclaw rings which will also merge."

After the rings are put on, a glow surrounds the couple as the rings accept the heirs and then another two boxes appear.

"Those would be the Potter ancestral wedding rings Lord Potter." Ragnok says with awe," They haven't been seen in generations."

Harry looks at Hermione and says," May I?"

She nods and he slips the wedding band, then the engagement ring onto her ring finger, while she does the same for the men's ring.

Their eyes glaze over once again as they chant, "**_Our minds….our bodys…..two souls merge…..our lives immortal….together forever and ever unto eternity." _**

As they kiss, they start glowing, getting brighter and brighter until the room is filled with light and heavenly music is being played when a white Phoenix flames in and settles on both their shoulders confirming the bond is now complete. She introduces herself to Harry and Hermione, saying her name is Hedwig and that she will be their companion and guardian from now on.

"Hello Hedwig, aren't you a beautiful bird." Harry says," Can you go to the Grangers and wait for us? We don't want to attract too much attention just yet." She trills in agreement and flashes away.

Ragnok is awed beyond measure to witness a full soul bond completing and seeing a white phoenix. This is the ultimate proof in his mind that these two are the new leaders of the light. He gets down on his knees and bows with his forehead to floor very respectfully.

"Ragnok, please get up and face us." Harry commands.

Ragnok stands up and faces Harry and Hermione. They reach out and place a glowing hand on each of Ragnok's shoulders and declare: "We are partners in arms and we are partners in life. May there always be gold in our coffers and may our enemies cower before us." Then softer, as a friend would speak," Please, just call us Harry and Hermione; we will be relying on the Goblin Nation as advisors towards finance and to learn about other magical peoples. We are all friends here and just have one last very mundane item of business. Do you have a way to pay for things without needing to come to the bank for gold?" Harry asks.

"We have a Gringotts debit card that will work in the muggle world. For most magical businesses you just need to press your signet ring into the wax pad each business has to effect payment."

"Thank you Ragnok, it's been a pleasure doing business with you." Harry states after receiving and activating the cards with a drop of blood each for the pair.

Mr. Granger sighs and says," I guess it is official now. You two are definitely married. Just don't give us any grandchildren any time soon."

"Daaad!" Hermione says embarrassed, "We're too young to be thinking about that. We just sleep together with nothing else happening."

Harry says," You have nothing to worry about Mr. Granger. We won't have any children until after we get married in the muggle world. Even then, we want to establish our careers first."

Mr. and Mrs. Granger are relieved to hear that and just smile and hug them. They walk to the lobby to pick up Professor McGonagall and go out into the alley to get their shopping done.

"Professor McGonagall," Harry says," I need you to keep the fact we are elders a secret. Also, Hermione and I just found out we own Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. We don't plan on taking advantage of this unless necessary and will consult with you first on any decisions we make. We trust you, but under no circumstances is the headmaster to know about this unless we say. He is the reason I was sent to the Dursley's and eight years of hell. He is a manipulative man that thinks he has to be in control of everything. He will not be able to find our address, though he will try in order to control us. Only you can see that and tracking charms won't work on us. You can head back to Hogwarts if you want and we can do our shopping on our own."

"Thank you for your trust. I thought elders were just a legend and didn't really exist. You will have my complete cooperation." Professor McGonagall says with a smile.

Hermione adds," We just want to be treated like any other student and don't want any special attention. Harry and I are coming to school to learn magic like everyone else and are looking forward to being in your class."

"Very well, I will see you at the sorting on September first." She says. She then turns on the spot and disappears with a small pop.

"That was cool," Harry exclaims, "I wish we could do that."

"We already can dear; our way is more like phasing than disapparation. Just consult with your probes to get the method. We can try it out when we get home."

They decide to start out with getting their robes from Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions. As they enter the shop, Madame Malkin herself comes out to meet them and asks," Hogwarts dears?"

"Yes, we both need school robes and formal robes with the Potter crest on them." Harry says showing his ring, "The best material you have. Cost is not an issue."

"Very good sir, just step up on the platform and we will get your measurements." She says.

They step up onto the platform and notice a blond boy getting measured as well. The boy looks over at them and sneers. "They let anyone go to Hogwarts these days. Half-bloods and mud-bloods don't belong."

"You must be one of those uppity purebloods that Ragnok was telling us about. You do know that blood status has nothing to do with how much magical power you have, don't you." Harry states. "My wife here probably has more power in her little finger than you do in your whole body. By the way, she is not a muggleborn, like you seem to think."

"My father says only purebloods are worthy of learning magic." The blond boy says.

"You will find out eventually that your father is just an opinionated bigot that doesn't know what he is talking about. You need to look around with an open mind and form your own opinions about things and not believe every word he says. He will just lead you down a path to destruction." Harry replies.

"There's you done," Madame Malkin says to the blond boy.

The boy steps down and sniffs and walks out of the shop with his nose pointed in the air.

"You think he can see where he is going?" Hermione snickers.

"He made it out the door okay. Maybe that's just the way he walks." Harry shrugs.

While they are talking to the blond kid a magical ruler is taking measurements of Harry and Hermione causing her to giggle occasionally while Harry laughs at what is going on.

"That was fun," Hermione says.

"Yea, it was," Harry agrees.

"You two are done now dears. You can pick up your robes in a week." Madame Malkin says a few minutes later.

"Thanks, we will be back to pick them up in a week then." Hermione says.

They go to Ollivander's, next to get their wands. As they walk into the store a bell rings to announce their presence and Mr. Ollivander comes out from the back to greet them.

"I was wondering when I would see you Mr. Potter and who is this lovely young lady with you?" He asks.

"This is my wife Lady Hermione Potter." Harry states proudly.

"It's nice to make your acquaintance. Now let's see if we can find you each a wand." He says.

He starts pulling out boxes and gives Harry a wand and says to give it a wave. Harry gives it a wave and vase in the counter explodes. Harry tries several more wands that don't work and Mr. Ollivander gets excited. Tough customer he thinks.

"I wonder." He says with his finger on his chin deep in thought. He goes to the back of the store and pulls out a dusty box and brings it out to the front. The box contains a holly with phoenix feather wand. He hands the wand to Harry and Harry immediately feels warmth flow down his arm and sparks shoot out the end lighting up the whole store.

"Curious," he says, "I remember every wand I have ever sold Mr. Potter. It's curious that you matched this wand when its brother gave you that scar. You are destined for great things Mr. Potter. After all, 'He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named' did great things with his wand, terrible, but great."

"Now young lady, let's see what we can find for you." He says while looking at her.

After trying several wands she finds a vine wood with a dragon heartstring to be a match for her. Harry pays for their wands and they leave the store. The next stop is Eeylops Owl Emporium to get a perch for Hedwig and then on to the apothecary for potion supplies. After getting their trunks they head over to the book store for their school books. While browsing through the books Hermione suggests several other books that could be useful. Harry agrees as he likes reading as much as Hermione and thinks the extra books will be needed to advance their studies. They still have a month before school starts and this will give them the chance to get ahead. After making their purchase they go home.

As soon as they get home Harry sets up the perch for Hedwig and says to her," Here you go girl, you deserve only the best. May we have a long and fruitful life together?"

Hedwig trills happily and flies over to the perch and gets comfortable.

Harry and Hermione spend the whole month of August going through their books and practicing the spells in them. Unknown to either of them, the first time they try a spell they burn out their wand cores due to the power they have. They are doing wandless magic without realizing it. Hermione is reading one of the advanced books one day when she comes across a statement that catches her attention and she goes to Harry to show him.

"Look here Harry, this book says magic is all about intent. You tell you're magic what you want it to do and just make it do it. Why do we need all these wand movements when they are not necessary? Let's see if we can we can do this."

"That makes sense Hermione. I agree, let's give it a try." Harry responds.

"The book says to concentrate and try to reach down inside you to your magical core and feel the magic. Once you have found that, it will get easier with practice." Hermione reads out loud.

Harry and Hermione sit there with their eyes closed and meditate while reaching down inside themselves trying to feel for their magical core.

"I feel something Harry." Hermione exclaims excitedly," It's a tingly feeling; only it is all over my body, not just inside. Oh this is so exciting."

"I feel it too," Harry says," now, we just have to make it work."

Now that they knew what to look for, it was just a matter of time before they could do all of the spells they had learned so far just by pointing their wand and thinking what they wanted to happen and it did.

"This is so much easier than trying to remember all those wand movements." Harry says.

"I agree," Hermione answers. "Let's try without our wands by just waving our hand or something."

"Ok, I don't think our wands are working anyway." Harry says.

Hermione looks at him with her head tilted a little to the left side and asks," Why do you say that Harry?"

"I've noticed I haven't felt anything from my wand since we got home after getting our supplies. I felt a surge when Mr. Ollivander put this wand in my hand, but I think the surge burned out the core while we were there in his shop." Harry explains.

"Now that you mention it, my wand feels dead as well. It's just a fancy, carved stick." Hermione says.

They both try performing magic without their wands and find it works just as well. After thinking about this for a while Hermione comes to a conclusion:

"Harry, I have a feeling that we are able to do this because we are elders. I don't think normal witches and wizards can do wandless magic because they were not taught how. In one of the history books I read, it says that when the ministry was established was when wands came into use. Before that, there were witches and wizards that could use wandless magic to do a few things, but they didn't understand that what they were doing was magic. To them, it was just a special skill they had and would use it to help out their community. When wands were discovered, they found out it was easier for them to do magic and they also figured out that certain wand movements matched with certain incantations allowed them to do a wider variety of magic. The ministry also discovered that with wands, they could control what was taught to the children allowing them to establish schools, making sure they only learned what the ministry decided was safe for them to learn. Even though their intentions were good, it held back the witches and wizards of the age and no one reached elder status. We should probably at least hold our wands while we do the lessons in school to keep up appearances."

"Yea, you're probably right, as usual. We will hold our wands while performing magic, but no wand movements. If anyone asks, we will tell our method to only those we trust. In the wrong hands this method could be dangerous. Can you imagine someone getting into an argument and thinking they want that person to be dead and they just are? It would be disastrous if terrorist could do that, nobody would be safe." Harry says after some thought, "The world is too fragmented and immature to trust with this method. We will have to wait a few years before this change can be implemented."

Hermione shudders and says," You're right Harry; I didn't think of that, so we have to be careful who we tell."

They keep practicing every day until it is time for them to go to school. On September first they pack their trunks and head off to Kings Cross Station to catch the train to school.

ooOOoo


	8. Hogwarts Express and The Sorting

_**Chapter 8: The Hogwarts Express and the Sorting**_

The family arrives at Kings Cross Station and unload their trunks from the car onto trollies and proceed to look for platform 9 ¾. The Potters observe other people walking through a seemingly solid wall.

"This is it," Hermione says," We will miss you mum and dad and will write as often as we can."

They give their parents a hug and push their trollies through the wall between platforms nine and ten. When they emerge on the other side they see a bright red steam engine that has Hogwarts Express on the front of the boiler and over the main drive wheel. Harry and Hermione board the train and find a compartment towards the rear of the last carriage. They put their trunks up in the overhead racks and settle in for the trip. As the train starts to move there comes a knock on the door. A red headed boy sticks his head in and asks:

"Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

"Sure come in and have a seat." Harry says.

The boy struggles with his trunk trying to get it in the overhead rack when Hermione gets up, grabs the trunk and puts it up there effortlessly.

The boy just stares at Hermione and asks," How did you do that? That trunk was heavy."

"I'm just strong that way." Hermione replies.

"I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley," The red haired boy says by way of introduction.

"I'm Harry and this is my wife Hermione," Harry says." nice to meet you."

"How can you be married? You're only eleven." Ron asks not believing.

"We bonded when we were eight years old. Apparently the magical world recognizes us as being married. We don't have a problem with it." Hermione says.

"Oh, okay," Ron says, "It just seems weird to me. But I guess I can get used to it."

They talk for a while and Ron shows Harry his collection of chocolate frog cards. Harry and Hermione hear a squeaking sound coming from Ron.

"What's that noise?" Harry asks.

"Oh, that's Scabbers, my pet rat," Ron says pulling him out of his pocket.

The rat looks around with his nose in the air sniffing and when he notices Harry sitting across from him squeaks and retreats back into Ron's pocket.

"That's weird, "Ron says," he usually very friendly, especially if you have food."

After a while Harry and Hermione get out books to read while Ron naps. Sometime later someone opens the door to their compartment uninvited and Harry looks up to see the blond haired boy from the robe shop standing there. He looks at them and stuck his nose up in the air.

"You and that; are from the robe shop." He sneers," I thought Harry Potter was in this compartment."

"Who wants to know?" Harry asks.

"I'm Draco Malfoy," the blond boy says as if he was king and all should bow down before him.

Ron snickers.

Draco looks over at him and says," Think my name is funny do you. You must be a Weasley, **No** money, **Red** hair and **Hand** me down robes. You will find some families are better than others Potter and I can help you there" He sticks his hand out thinking Harry will agree with him.

"I think I can tell the right sort for myself, thank you." Harry says. "Just remember what I told you in the robe shop. If your attitude doesn't change you won't last long in this world."

Draco just harrumphs and says," You better watch yourself Potter or you will end up like your parents."

Before anyone except Hermione could see, Harry was nose to nose with Draco Malfoy, who jumped back in surprise, eyes wide.

"My parents were murdered by a megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur. If I find out your father was involved in the murder of my parents I will see to it that your family is turned into paupers and you will be living in a tent." Harry growled while his eyes were glowing dark green, like the killing curse.

Draco gulped at seeing Harry's eyes glow and squeaks," You can't do that. You're just a kid, like me."

"I am Lord Harold James Potter, and I certainly can and will." Harry declared, showing his ring, "Why don't you go back to your compartment and stay there like a good little boy should. After all, like you said, you're just a kid."

"Yes Lord Potter, I will do just that." Draco says respectfully. Draco knew his father wasn't a lord like Harry and that Harry could make a lot of trouble for his family.

"Your Harry Potter," Ron says with awe," Do you have the scar?"

Harry just sighs and pulls his hair to one side to show his scar to Ron. The scar isn't really a scar. More like a faint thin line. But the magical world has built it up to be a larger than life symbol though fictional stories.

"Wicked," he says.

Ron thinks to himself," Mission accomplished. I have found Harry Potter and now just have to pretend to be his friend. Professor Dumbledore said if I did this he would pay me one galleon a week and reward me when the time comes. I don't really believe he is married like he says. How can an eleven year old be married? It is not right and mum would have a fit if she knew, since she has been telling Ginny all her life that she was going to marry Harry Potter."

Harry and Hermione just roll their eyes at Ron and go back to reading their books. The rest of trip passes uneventfully and as they get near the end, an announcement is made to change into school robes so Harry and Hermione excuse themselves to get changed. When they come back they find Ron had changed as well.

"What house do you think you will be in?" Ron asks.

"We're not sure. We will have to wait till the sorting to find out," Hermione answers.

"My brothers said I have to wrestle a troll to find out what house I am in." Ron says with a shudder.

Harry and Hermione just laugh and tell him about the sorting hat and how it works.

"That's a relief, "Ron sighs," I'm going to have to find a way to get back at my brothers now."

"At least you have siblings. Hermione and I had to grow up alone our first eight years until we found each other and we have been together ever since." Harry says. He reaches over and gives her a kiss while she snuggles into his side.

"_Maybe they are married_," Ron thinks, while watching them snuggle," _Ginny's going to be so disappointed._"

As the train comes to a stop, they get their trunks down (Hermione has to get Ron's for him) and get in line to get off the train to join their classmates.

"First years, First years to me," exclaims a very large and tall man with a dark bushy beard," First years gather around me and I will guide you to the boats."

All the first years gather around the large man that must have been at least ten feet tall and they start towards the dock where the boats are moored.

The large man introduces himself," My name is Hagrid. I am the keeper of the keys and grounds for Hogwarts. Please step into the boats. Only four students to a boat."

Harry and Hermione get into a boat along with Ron and another boy named Neville Longbottom.

Once all the boats are filled, Hagrid says, "Forward," and the boats start moving across the lake. When they go around a bend, the castle comes into full view with its towers and lit windows. It is a beautiful site and there are a lot of oohs and aahs at the view. The group of boats dock at a boat house that is at the base of a long stairway up to the castle. After the climb up the stairs, Hagrid knocks on the door and Professor McGonagall answers the knock and steps out.

"The first years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid declares.

"Very well Hagrid, thank you for bringing them," she responds.

"You're welcome," Hagrid says and then goes off to do whatever a keeper of the keys and grounds does.

The professor looks at the students and says," Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall; I am the deputy head mistress and head of Gryffindor house. There are four houses that make up the student body. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. While you are here, your house will be like your family. You will earn points for your house with good behavior and loose points with bad behavior. The house with the most points at the end of the year wins the house cup. We expect all of you to be on your best behavior during your stay in the castle. Wait here until we are ready for you."

She goes back inside and Malfoy walks up to Harry and asks," Are you sure you don't want to be friends with me? My Father has connections in high places and can help you find your place in the magical world."

Harry responds," I have already found my place in the magical world, but if you can start thinking for yourself instead of spouting off whatever your father tells you, then maybe you can earn my friendship. We'll see, as only time will tell."

"Okay," Malfoy says." At least it is a start." He shakes Harry's hand and moves back to his place in line.

"You're not going to be friends with him are you?" Ron asks," He'll probably get sorted in with those evil Slytherins."

"Ron," Harry sighs," what makes you think Slytherin is an evil house. Just because Voldemort and most of the death eaters were in Slytherin doesn't make the house evil. Being evil comes from within. Most children that grow up to become bad people were either that way from the start, usually from a rare mental disorder, or were taught to be that way by their parents. I know what Malfoy's father was, and I am trying to get eleven year old Draco to think for himself and form his own opinions, so hopefully he won't follow in his father's footsteps. The same applies for all of you others listening. If your parents were death eaters doesn't mean you have to be as well. Study hard and make a life for yourself."

"All Slytherins are evil," Ron grumbles.

"Then that makes you just as bigoted and pig headed as any death eater, Ron, and I'm afraid I can't be a friend to a bigot like you. I won't tolerate it."

"Fine," Ron grumbles," but I still say all Slytherins are evil."

The crowd is listening to every word he says and some of them take it to heart, while others take a wait and see attitude. Professor McGonagall is standing behind the door listening. She knew right then she could trust Harry and Hermione to do the right thing and decides they will have her complete loyalty.

She walks out the door and says," Attention students; form a line and follow me inside."

They form a line behind her and follow her into the castle to a small room where they can hear the noise from the great hall through the door in front of them. As they are waiting a stream of ghosts start floating through the room, scaring some of the muggleborn students.

"Must be first years," they hear one of the ghosts say," Welcome to Hogwarts."

The ghosts then float through the door on their way out.

The door opens and Professor McGonagall asks them to follow her into the great hall to be sorted. They walk down the center aisle between two long tables filled with older students and stop to wait to be called for the sorting. As soon as Harry and Hermione walk in the entrance they hear someone speak in their heads:

_"Welcome to Hogwarts Elders and heirs."_

Harry and Hermione feel a great power shift to them as Hogwarts moves her allegiance from the headmaster to the true owners of the castle. Headmaster Dumbledore also feels the wards shift and wonders who they went to. He now knows he is no longer in control of the castle and is seething inside. "How dare someone take control of the castle from me," he thinks.

"_Who is this?_" Harry thinks back.

_"I am the sorting hat and I speak for Hogwarts in saying welcome. I have been waiting a long time for you to show up."_

_"You're welcome, Mr. Hat, we will do our best to be worthy owners of this school. How can we help you today?"_

_"You can help with the sorting if you want."_ The hat sends.

_"Hmm," _Harry sends back to the hat,_" I'll trust your judgment on most of the students with the exception of one. Ron Weasley is a bigot and an idiot, he thinks all students in Slytherin are automatically evil, I think he needs to be sorted there to teach him a lesson."_

The hat sends back to him,_" A lot of the students in Slytherin are from death eater families and aren't the best people to associate with."_

_"Slytherin is not the only house that death eaters come from. Some of the other houses have the same problem. We are going to fix that problem one way or another. We have studied a lot of recent history while preparing for our roles to come and we will do the best we can to change things."_ Harry sends.

_"Dumbledore will fight you most of the way you know,"_ the hat sends back.

_"Dumbledoor is no longer in control of this school. He will try to take control back once he finds out we have it from him, but anything he does will be ineffective. If he tries something through the ministry, he will find out that won't work either. Better get on with the sorting, the students are getting restless."_

The students were getting restless and everyone was looking at the hat wondering when it would start. The hat clears its throat and then starts to sing:

Oh you may not think me pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindor's apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuff's are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap! (JK Roweling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)

But know this, for at last,

The Founders heirs are back

To end the strife that has plundered

The four houses asunder

No longer will the houses be divided

No longer will blood rule

For the Founders Heirs

Have returned to this school

The students clap and cheer for the hat's song, some wondering what that last part means while some of the pure bloods are unsettled by the last part and decide to write their parents about it.

Professor McGonagall looks at the hat and says," Thank you,"

The hat nods in her direction and becomes still for the sorting.

"Abbott, Hannah," she calls out to start the sorting.

She walks up and sits on the stool while putting the hat on her head.

"Hufflepuff," the hat shouts after a few seconds.

And so the sorting continues, with Neville Longbottom going into Hufflepuff and Draco Malfoy going into Slytherin. Soon it became Harry's turn.

Professor McGonagall looks down at the parchment and reads the next name:

"Lord Harry Potter," she calls out.

Harry walks up to the stool and stands by it while the students mumble making noises about Harry being a Lord. Dumbledore sits up when he hears Harry's name called.

"Next please," says the hat.

Professor McGonagall looks at the list again thinking this will really get the rumor mill going, and calls out," Lady Hermione Potter."

The buzz really turns up at this, with a lot of witches giving Hermione the glare of death as she walks up since she got Harry Potter and they didn't.

The hat expands to cover both of their heads and then they hear it speak again.

"Hmm, where to put the pair of you. You both have ambition enough for Slytherin and are intelligent enough for Ravenclaw. While you are brave enough for Gryffindor, I believe your strongest attribute is your loyalty to each other so it better be:

**Hufflepuff**." The hat called out.

Harry and Hermione go and sat down next to Neville at the Hufflepuff table. When they realize what happened and get over their shock at getting a prominent person in their house, the Hufflepuffs sit up straighter and cheer loudly.

Dumbledore is sitting there wondering why the hat is ignoring his commands to put Harry in Gryffindor. Then he thinks evilly," Now I know who the soul mate is. I will have to find a way to get control of them. Perhaps forcing a resorting and breaking them up as a couple somehow."

Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, flashes into the great hall and squawks loudly breaking his bond with the headmaster. He berates him by pecking around the Headmasters head as he flies around, then flashes out, not to return until he sees the light. Albus Dumbledore slumps down in his chair, looking every bit his age of one hundred fifty seven. The student body gets very agitated and noisy while witnessing the scolding Fawkes was giving the Headmaster. They then they started hearing musical trilling coming from everywhere, getting louder and louder, filling every ones hearts with peace and joy as a white phoenix flashes into the great hall spiraling down from the ceiling and settling on Harry and Hermione's shoulders. They both reach up to run their fingers through her feathers in greeting and say in unison:

"Hello Hedwig, been behaving yourself at mum and dad's?"

Harry and Hermione look at each other and laugh, thinking it must be part of their bond. Headwig just nuzzles both of them and trills softly. Everyone is amazed at the white phoenix perched on the Potter's shoulders.

"Isn't he heavy Hermione?" Neville asks," It looks uncomfortable because of how large he is."

"Hermione answers," First of all, Hedwig is a girl, like me, and she could never be too heavy to perch on our shoulders. Isn't that right girl?"

Hedwig trills softly and nuzzles the both of them, whom she considers her chicks, again.

"You can wait for us to call you once we get a room and a new perch for you if you want, or you can stay here and wait." Harry says.

Hedwig trills happily and flies up to the rafters so she can keep an eye on her companions.

"Sorry for the interruption Professor McGonagall, I didn't know this was going to happen. Please continue." Harry says.

"Certainly Lord Potter," she says and calls out the next name. When she gets to Ron Weasley's name, he walks nervously up to the stool and puts the hat on.

_"What have we here?"_ the hat thinks to Ron, _"Another pureblood bigot, who is opinionated and lazy. You have ambition to outdo your brothers, but are you cunning enough to get the job done. Let's find out."_

"Better be **Slytherin**," the hat calls out.

"_No_," Ron thinks as he makes his way over to the Slytherin table," _My mum's going to go ape when she finds out_."

The sorting continues with the last person, Blaise Zabini, being also sorted into Slytherin.

The Headmaster, having recovered enough from his scolding by Fawkes, stands up and says, "Well, that was certainly an interesting sorting this year. I'm sure you're all hungry, so let the feast begin"

He waves his arms in a grand showmanship style and the feast appears on the tables. After much cheering every one digs in.

After the feast is over and the food disappears, the headmaster stands up in front of his throne like chair to give his beginning of the year speech:

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts for the new students as well as the old. The Forbidden Forest is just that, forbidden to all students seventh year and below. Apprentices are allowed to go in with their Masters as needed. Mr. Filch asks that no magic be performed in the halls and to see the list on his door for all forbidden items. The third floor on the left side is off limits; unless you want die a most painful death. Prefects, if you will lead your students to your houses we can get settled in for the night. Schedules will be given out in the morning during breakfast so don't be late."

Harry and Hermione stand up and walk up to the headmaster.

"We would like to meet with you and Professor Sprout in your office please." Harry states.

The Headmaster agrees and he leads them to his office where he takes a seat behind his desk.

"What did you want to meet about Lord Potter?" Professor Dumbledore asks politely. He is still feeling the loss of Fawkes.

"First, I want to say that we are sorry you lost your phoenix in the way that you did. He must have had a reason which we will not speculate on. We've only had Hedwig for about a month now and could not go on without her. Second, we wanted to inform you that Hermione and I own Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. There may be some changes made around here as we find need. We will not go behind your back for any of these changes as we still want you to lead the school as you have been a competent headmaster. Professor McGonagall already knows about our ownership as she was with us when we found out. The board of governors is now an advisory board only. We will leave it up you and them to hire new teachers and will go with your recommendation unless we find reason not to. Because we own Hogwarts, the school has become a private school and the ministry has no say in how we teach the children. Hermione and I are only eleven years old but were given wisdom way beyond our years due to our soul bond which started when we were eight years old and completed on my birthday this year. The thing we lack is direct experience because of our physical age. That is why we are here, to learn. We've already heard rumors about a couple of the teachers here. One is a bully and the other one puts his class to sleep. We will talk to them first and see if we can get them to change before we come to you with a recommendation."

Professor Dumbledore responds to Harry," Loosing Fawkes like that opened my mind and heart up to what I have been doing the last few years. Some of the things I've done I am ashamed of now and want to help you and Mrs. Potter as much as possible."

"That's fine professor, we could sense the change in you in the Great Hall, which is one of the reasons we decided to let you keep your post as headmaster. However, we remain in control of the castle and need to be shown where the master ward stone is so we can strengthen the wards around the school." Hermione says.

"We can do that in the morning Lady Potter." The Headmaster responds.

"You can call us Harry and Hermione unless we are in a formal setting where protocol is needed." Harry says being nice.

"Then I insist you call me Albus." Albus says smiling for the first time all evening.

"Very well Albus, I was wondering if we could borrow your perch for Hedwig until we can purchase one of our own." Harry asks.

"It's all right; you can have it as I won't need it anymore." Albus says sadly.

"Thanks, if you ever decide you need it back, just let us know." Harry says.

Harry turns to Professor Sprout and says to her," We are very happy to be in Hufflepuff, home of the loyal and hard working. The reason I asked you up here is that Hermione and I have been married for three years due to our magical bond. We plan on getting married in the muggle world as soon as we are of legal age for that. We want to request a room of our own to sleep in so we can be together. I promise you we will only be sleeping as we are not old enough for anything else yet. Hermione and I are going to be together for a very long time and we don't want to be separated."

Professor Sprout says," I can assign you married quarters off the Hufflepuff common room. Just promise no parties or late night revelry."

Hermione replies," Thank you. That will do just fine. We didn't come here to party. This is a school, not a pub for throwing parties."

"I like your attitude Lord and Lady Potter. Looks like we will get along just fine." she smiles.

"Thank you for your time headmaster. We will see you at breakfast." Hermione says," Have a good evening."

Harry grabs the perch and carries it out the door following madam Sprout while she leads them to their common room. Professor Dumbledore watches them leave with wonder in his eyes.

_"That perch weighs in at one hundred and twenty kilos and he picks it up like it is as light as a feather. There is something definitely different about them. I'll have to keep my eye on them to make sure they don't get into trouble accidentally."_ He thinks.

As they were walking down to their new common room Hermione thinks:

_"I love it when Harry shows his intellectual side like that. It makes me feel good all over when he does that"_

"Thanks, I love you too," Harry says.

"Harry, I didn't say anything, but I love you too." Hermione says back.

He just grabs her hand and squeezes and thinks,_" I could have sworn she said something about my intellectual side."_

_"Harry can you hear me?"_ Hermione asks in her mind.

"Yea, I can hear you just fine, Hermione." Harry says out loud.

"Hold that thought till we get somewhere more private" she says.

He looks at her and nods okay to her. They have arrived at the entrance to their new common room.

"Welcome to the Hufflepuff common room." Professor Sprout announces as she leads them in. When they enter, the room becomes still, as everyone stands up in respect for their head of house and Lord and Lady Potter. The common room is decorated in yellow carpet with black trim and has a large tapestry hanging on the wall with the Hufflepuff crest on it.

"Your quarters are right over here Harry and Hermione," Professor Sprout says.

She shows them to a painting of a badger playing in a field with her kits.

"Just set a password when you are ready. The house elves have made your rooms ready for you."

"Thank you Professor Sprout, you have been most kind. We are looking forward to your classes." Hermione says.

Professor Sprout smiles at them and bids them a pleasant evening reminding them about getting their schedules in the morning. After she leaves, the other students crowd around asking if they could see Hedwig. Harry sets the perch down with a heavy thump and calls Hedwig into the room. She flashes in and trills a beautiful song while she alights on the perch.

"Hello Hedwig," Hermione coos," Looks like you are going to get a lot of attention while we are in school."

Hedwig just trills happily and lets everyone gather around while she preens her feathers.

"Can we pet her?" someone asks.

"That's up to her. We don't own her, she chose us as companions." Hermione answers.

Hedwig lowers her head and some of the more brave students come forward to pet her and run their fingers over her feathers. She trills quietly while she waits to be moved to their rooms.

While the some of the students are admiring Hedwig, one of the older students approaches Harry to introduce herself," We may be cousins on your dad's side of the family. Hi, I am Nymphadora Tonks, but please just call me Tonks. I hate my first name and I am in seventh year."

"I think Nymphadora is a pretty name. You could always shorten it to Nym or Dora. Calling you Tonks makes it sound like you're in the army or something." Hermione says, "How is Harry related to you?"

"Dora sounds good," she says thinking about it," I think we are related because my grandmother's sister married his grandfather. Her name was Dorea Black and his name was Charlus Potter. I remember playing with you as a baby when I was six."

"So my dad's middle name would have been Charlus. Now that you bring it to my attention I remember a girl I used to call Nymie when I was little." Harry says.

He gives her a hug and says," It's nice to know I have someone that is actually related to me besides my Aunt Petunia."

Dora says" That's right, how can you remember that?"

"Hermione and I both have had total recall from day we were born. We remember everything we have seen or done since our birth." Harry says.

"That means you remember that night too doesn't it," Dora moans.

"Yes, unfortunately, I watched as Voldemort killed my mother right in front of me." Harry says sadly. Both Dora and Hermione cling to Harry with tears in their eyes.

"Hey, that was a long time ago and I got to hear my mother tell me that she loved me and would miss me." Harry says softly, "I told her not to worry and that the bad man could not hurt me. I hope she went to heaven knowing I was going to be okay."

"I'm sure she is watching over you even now Harry," Hermione whispers lovingly.

"Her spirit told me that she would be," Harry replies yawning," I think it is time for bed. Goodnight Dora."

"Goodnight Harry," she says.

Harry goes to the painting and whispers Potters Retreat for a password and opens the door. Hermione picks up the perch with Hedwig on it with one hand and walks into their room.

Out in the common room the students are whispering amongst themselves.

"Did you see that?" Someone asks.

"Yea, I tried to move that perch to get at something behind it and I couldn't budge it. It must weigh at least a hundred kilos and she just picked it up like it was nothing," one of the other students whispers.

"We must have someone special in our house now. We have to make sure this stays a secret confined to the house." One of the prefects declares.

Dora overhears them talking and speaks up," Harry is my cousin and she is too by marriage. They are very special to me and I agree; we need to keep any special abilities they have within the house. Hermione probably doesn't realize she's doing anything unnatural since she's been doing it all her life. I'll let her know so they will be careful in public."

Harry and Hermione go into their quarters and enter into a smaller version of the common room with a comfortable couch sitting in front of a large fireplace. There are two desk and chair sets for studying and a door that leads to the bedroom with an en-suite bathroom attached. There are also bookshelves lining the walls where Hermione notices that all their things have been put away and their books are on the shelves.

"Do you suppose the house elves have been working in here? All of our things have been put away and the books are sorted alphabetically on the shelves." Hermione says worriedly, "I don't condone slavery and won't put up with it."

As she says this, a house elf pops in and bows low before Hermione. "I is Tilly, elder. I heard you is worried about house elves being slaves?"

"Yes, when I saw how clean the room was with all our things put away I started getting concerned, and how did you know we are elders." Hermione asks.

Tilly says," all house elves every wheres knows the two elders are going to Hoggy Warts now. Yous and Master Harry Potter sir owns all of us in Hoggy Warts now."

Hermione looks at Tilly with tears forming in her eyes and wails," But I don't want to own anybody, that's just wrong. Slavery is wrong. Harry, we have to do something, we can't own all these people. How could we live with ourselves?" She was getting all worked up over this.

"Hermione, calm down, let's just talk to Tilly and see why she said that." Harry says calmly.

He turns to Tilly and asks," Why do you say we own you, is it not better to be free and work for someone for wages?"

Tilly starts wringing her hands together and swaying a little when Harry says the word "free". She is now worried she is going to get clothes. This, to a house elf, is worse than being killed.

"Master," she squeaks nervously, "House elves has to be bonded or wees being losing our magic."

"What?" Hermione screeches while crying, "When did this start?"

"It is always being that way." Tilly says softly," without the bonding to a wizard wees justs fades away."

"Okay," Hermione sniffs," I understand the need for bonding. Can't we bond as family instead of master to slave? I don't mind being bonded to my brothers and sisters. I've always wanted a big family."

Tilly's eyes get big and round when Hermione says that.

She whispers," Yous would really dos that. Yous would bond with elves as family?"

"Yes we will. Won't we Harry?" she says looking at him with hope in her eyes.

"Of course we will. I would love to have a larger family." Harry says looking into his wife's eyes with love.

Hermione jumps into his arms crying in relief saying thank you over and over again.

Harry looks at the little elf and asks," How do we do this and what does it mean to the elves?"

Tilly answers," Its will frees us from the curse an evil wizard puts on us a thousand years ago. Elves has always been bonded to wizards because wes likes to work. Its is our way. To change the bonding, yous has to gives us clothes, a sock will do, this will free us. Wees can only be free for a few hours before wees starts to fade. Then you bonds with us as friends or family. Theys wills both works."

"If you bond as family, you will become Potters right?" Harry asks.

Tilly nods her head yes.

"Harry looks at Hermione and asks," Friend's, or family?"

"Family; definitely," she states.

"Will conjured socks work or do we need to buy them?" Harry asks.

"As long as yous does the conjuring it will works." Tilly says.

"How many elves are there in Hogwarts Tilly?" Harry asks.

"One hundred and eighteen" Tilly says.

Ok, is there a room big enough for everyone to fit?" Harry asks," I don't think Hermione is going to be able to sleep until this is done."

"There is the comes and goes room. It will change to whats evers yous wants." Tilly says.

"OK, take us there and call your friends to meet us." Harry says.

She takes their hands and pops them to the seventh floor near the tapestry of Barnabas and his ballet-dancing trolls. She says,"Yous just has to walk in front of that wall three times and thinks whats kind of room you wants."

Harry walks back and forth in front of the wall while thinking about a room to fit all the elves of Hogwarts. He does this three times and a door appears in the wall.

Hermione says," Harry, look, there is door there now."

Harry opens the door and they all go in. Harry, with a wave of his hand, conjures a chair for him and Hermione and they sit down. With another wave of his hand he conjures one hundred eighteen socks. Tilly had already left to tell the other elves what was going to happen and to go to the come and go room. The elves start popping in one at a time until they all are there. After they have all gathered they form two lines so they can be changed. One by one, they go up to Harry and Hermione who gives them a sock and chants:

"You are given clothes, you are free," then place their hands on the elf's head and says," I bond you into the Potter family as a new family member."

This takes about an hour and once everyone has bonded with the Potters an amazing thing happens. The elves start to change. They grow from two and a half to four and half feet tall. Their heads change from large cartoon like heads with bulbous eyes to more narrow heads with smaller pointed ears and slanted eyes. Their skin turns from a pasty white to a light golden hue with hair of a light shimmering green that hangs to the lower back for females and to the shoulders for the males. Their tunic type uniforms are red with gold trim with a large Potter crest in the middle of the chest area. They all bow to Harry and Hermione and then pop away to complete their chores.

Tilly approaches Harry and Hermione and says," Thank you for allowing us into your family. We will work hard, and make you proud of us. I would like to be your personal elf Hermione if you would allow it. Dilly, my mate would like to be Harry's."

"Hermione says," that's ok with us, if you want. We're real tired right now and just want to go to bed."

Tilly takes their hands and pops them to their bedroom and when they get there, she snaps her fingers, changing both of them into pajamas. Hermione thanks Tilly while they crawl under the covers to fall instantly asleep with Hermione snuggling up to Harry's right side with his arm around her.

"Goodnight Tilly whispers," in awe of the Potters before she pops away.

ooOOoo


	9. First Day of School

_**Chapter 9: The First Day of School**_

Harry and Hermione are awakened by their elves in the morning with fresh clothes set out for them. They go into the bathroom to get cleaned up for the day and come out to dress in the clean robes that were set out for them. They notice the robes fit a little better as the elves have altered them to fit properly with the Hufflepuff and Potter crests on the left breast pocket. As they exit the door to their rooms they are intercepted by Dora Tonks.

"I just wanted to caution you about something you two are doing unaware." She says.

"What is it?" Hermione asks.

"Well, you picked up that perch with Hedwig on it and carried to your room with one hand." She answers.

"Yea, so?" Hermione says.

Dora sighs and explains," According to Professor Dumbledore, that perch weighs one hundred twenty kilos. One of the other students tried to move it last evening to get something from behind it and he couldn't budge it. You need to be careful in public about this. The house has sworn secrecy about your special abilities."

"Thanks for letting us know. We will try to be careful about those kinds of things in the future." Hermione says.

They leave the common room and walk to the great hall for breakfast. While they were walking, Hermione thinks to Harry," _Harry, can you hear me in your head?"_

Harry looks and her and thinks back,_" Yea, I can. Is this why I thought you were speaking to me yesterday when you didn't say anything out loud?"_

_"Yes Harry, This can come in handy when we need to talk privately."_ Hermione responds.

They arrive at the great hall and sit down at their house table for breakfast. They serve themselves from the various platters and wait for their schedules. As they are eating Harry is looking around and notices a man dressed in black with long greasy hair staring at him with hate in his eyes sitting at the head table.

"Hey Dora," Harry says to get her attention.

"Yea Harry?" she asks, "can I help you with something?"

"Who is that man sitting at the head table staring at me like he hates me? I've never seen him before so I don't understand why that would be." Harry says.

"That's Professor Snape, our potions professor. He hates everyone not in Slytherin. Not sure why he would look at you like that. He is very biased and that is why Slytherin has won the house cup every year since he has been here. He takes away points for things like blinking too loud."

"Yea, well, that stops today or he won't be here tomorrow." Harry states.

"He's in the headmaster's pocket Harry," she answers back.

"Doesn't matter, Hermione and I own the school," Harry says.

Dora smiles and goes back to eating her breakfast while Professor Sprout passes out the schedules where Harry and Hermione notice that theirs are both the same, having most of their classes with Ravenclaw.

"This is interesting Harry," Hermione says," we get to compete with the supposed intelligent house for points in all our classes. We can't hold back like we did in muggle School."

Harry laughs and says," I guess not. We might have some real competition now."

Their schedule lists Transfiguration and Charms on Monday morning with Potions in the afternoon. The rest of the week has their other classes spread out with Fridays open for studying.

"It looks like we will find out about the bullying teacher today, which is Potions, and the teacher that puts you to sleep, on Wednesday, in History of Magic class." Harry says.

"Let's head on over to Transfiguration first and get started with our year." Hermione says.

"We need to power up the ward stone for the castle first," Harry says.

"Thanks for reminding me," she says.

They walk up the Headmaster to ask him to lead them to the ward room. He complies by leading them to a door just off the Great Hall and down some stairs to a room with a large stone with runes carved into just about every square inch.

"You just have to lay your hands on the stone and it will recognize you as the owners" The Headmaster instructs," I'm not sure how strong the wards will get but they rely mostly on the magic performed by the students and staff anyway so you will probably have little to no effect as you are so young. I myself am only able to increase the strength by a small margin, due to my age and power level as a minor mage."

Harry and Hermione walk to opposite sides of the stone and stare each other in the eyes as they glaze over while going into a trance like state. They hold their hands up palms facing each other. They will their palms to become covered in blood and place them on the stone allowing the runes to soak in the blood and chant:

**_By the blood of the founders four, we, Harry Gryffindor Hufflepuff Potter and Hermione Ravenclaw Slytherin Potter, charge this ward stone to full power. As it was in the beginning and as Elders Immortal, we add our power to protect Hogwarts and all of its students from outside harm. May Hogwarts return to its full power and glory for now and forever!_**

Dumbledore watches in awe as the runes glow softly with power never seen before in the history of Hogwarts as the stone responds to the chant from the Potters. He feels the wards strengthen tenfold as the castle's true power manifests itself. Out in the castle the teachers and students all pause as they feel the change. Professor Quirrell feels weaker all of a sudden while Professor Snape grabs his arm in pain and gasps for a few minutes until the pain subsides to a dull ache. The centaurs in the forest pause and have cause to celebrate. The Founders heirs have returned at last. The people of Hogsmeade look toward the castle to see a momentary shimmer in the air as the wards strengthen and they know there is true power in Hogwarts now, just like in the legends of the Founders days.

The Potters remove their hands from the stone perfectly clean, stand up and sway for a second or two as their power replenishes itself.

Professor Dumbledore asks as he sees them sway momentarily," Are you two alright? I've never seen such power before, especially in someone so young."

Harry responds," We're fine, just got a little dizzy from standing up suddenly. That took a little bit of willpower, but we did what needed to be done. No one will be able to penetrate the wards with ill intent now and any evil presence inside the castle already will find it impossible to get back in once they leave. We need to get to class before we are late."

Harry and Hermione exit the ward room and after the headmaster leaves; seal the door. They then proceed to their first class of the school year, Transfiguration.

As the couple walks into the transfiguration classroom, they notice a cat sitting on the professor's desk. Harry takes a look at the markings on the cat's face and mouths at her," Hello Professor McGonagall," and takes his seat next to Hermione. The cat winks back at him.

After the whole class is seated they sit there for a few minutes and start to get restless when the teacher doesn't show for the bell. The cat then leaps off the desk and morphs into Professor McGonagall during the jump, smoothly ending up standing front of her desk.

"That was cool," someone says and the class gives the professor polite applause for her performance.

"That is called an animagus transformation, which is part of human Transfiguration, and is not taught until seventh year. Transfiguration can be a very dangerous subject to learn, so there will be no playing around in this class or you will be removed from the class permanently," Professor McGonagall warns sternly.

She then starts the lesson," Class, today we are going to attempt to turn matchsticks into needles. Transfiguration is accomplished by picturing in your mind exactly what your end product should look like, in this case a sewing needle with an eye on one end and a point on the other, nice and shiny silver in color. There are four keys to transfiguration: Concentration, Effort, Incantation, and proper wand movement."

She showed them the proper want movement and has them practice with their wands for a few minutes and then has the class practice pronouncing the incantation for a few minutes. She then passes out matchsticks to everyone and tells them to place them on their desks to begin. Harry and Hermione just point their wands at their matchsticks and they become needles instantly. Most of the class gets various results from no change at all, to a silver colored wood with a point. Professor McGonagall walks around the class giving out pointers to help the students as needed. When she gets to Harry and Hermione's desk she finds them sitting there playing with their needles by changing the size and color while levitating them for examination. She sits back down at her desk while watching them play with their needles amazed at their abilities.

"Very well done class," Professor McGonagall says as the bell rings," Good effort for your first go at magic. Five points each to Hufflepuff for Mr. and Mrs. Potter and five points to Ms. Stebbins from Ravenclaw for getting their needles on the first try. Mr. and Mrs. Potter, could you stay after class for a few minutes please? The rest of you are dismissed."

The Potter's approached her desk and asks," You wanted to see us professor?"

"Yes, I noticed you didn't say anything or use any wand movements when you cast your spells." She says.

"You're absolutely right, we didn't," Hermione says.

"Can you explain how this was done?" Professor McGonagall asks.

Hermione asks back, "Can you perform a test for us to verify something?"

"If the test is something I can do," she says.

"We've been doing magic since you took us to Diagon alley." Hermione says.

"What? And you didn't get any owls from the ministry during summer for underage magic use?" Professor McGonagall asked astonished.

"Oh, have they replaced the sensors they were using to control magic use in the country yet?" Hermione asks, then continues," I hadn't heard anything since the pulse from our bond destroyed them. It may also be because we have been married for three years and are now considered adults in the magic world since Harry's birthday."

"I didn't know about the sensors being destroyed. I remember seeing some of Albus's silver gadgets were melted." Professor McGonagall states.

"Anyway, what we would like you to test is to see if our wands still have cores." Hermione says." We haven't been able to feel them since we got them."

"Lay your wands on the desk and I will check them for you." she says.

They lay their wands on the desk and Professor McGonagall casts a magic detection spell on them. She tries a couple of other spells just to be sure of her findings.

"I can detect no magic in your wands at all. I could get the wood type but that was all." she says.

"We discovered this at home," Hermione explains," It seems we burned our cores out when we got our wands at Ollivander's. We only hold our wands for appearance sake to perform magic and wand movements take too long. We still learned the movements when reading our books last summer so we can pass the exams when the time comes."

"That makes sense," Professor McGonagall says, "Unfortunately; no one that I know of can do wandless magic besides your selves. Dumbledore can do a little and possibly 'You-Know-Who.' They both have a lot of experience with magic in general; you better get on to your next class before you are late."

They leave the transfiguration classroom and sprint to the charms class. The charms master Professor Flitwick is short in stature so he uses a stack of books on top of a desk to see eye to eye with his students. When the Potters come in to find their seat, Professor Flitwick looks over at them and squeaks in excitement at having the them in his class. His book stack shifts out from under him and he starts to fall off his desk with the stack of books going everywhere.

Without thinking of the consequences Hermione says with concern. "Oh, let me help you sir," She pulls her wand and aims it at him, catching him before he hits the floor and floats him gently back onto his desk.

"Why haven't you made yourself a podium with steps instead of standing on books, which can be unstable, you could have been hurt?" She asks with a curious look on her face.

She waves her wand again and with a flash of light, a lectern with "Professor Flitwick" engraved on a nice gold plaque appears with a padded platform for standing at just the right height for the professor with steps and railing leading up to the platform. He gets down from the desk he was using and walks over to the new lectern, climbing the stairs and feeling the polished wood as he goes.

He studies Harry and Hermione for a few minutes while everyone else is looking on with wide eyes. Then he says, with a serious look on his face:

"Thank you for your help Mrs. Potter. That was a wonderful piece of conjuring you did. How did you manage it? And silently too."

Hermione blushes at the praise and answers," Harry and I have perfect recall. Once we see something, we will remember it the rest of our lives. I saw this in a catalog at home and thought it would be perfect for you, and with the padding, should make it a little more comfortable for standing in one place. Muggles use these in churches and schools. It should be permanent, I hope you like it."

"Thank you, the podium is perfect. I've never seen anything like this in the wizarding world." He says.

"You're welcome professor but I think the proper term is Lectern since this is where you lecture to the class from." Hermione replies.

"Very well class, let's begin. Mrs. Potter gave a good demonstration of what the Levitation charm could be used for, such as levitating an injured person to the Hospital Wing. We won't be learning that charm until later in the year. However, this charm should be just as interesting."

He then goes on and gives a good lecture on charms in general and they get to practice the alohomora charm since it was in the first chapter of their book. The bell rings and everyone scrambles to pack their books away and get to lunch. Professor Flitwick can't wait to tell Professor McGonagall what happened in his class today and when he gets to the Great Hall he walks up to the head table and excitedly tells her everything.

"Minevra, you should have seen it," he says excitedly," Mrs. Potter first saved me from getting hurt when I fell off my book stack by using the levitation charm, putting me back on my desk; then, she conjured what she called a Lecturn for me to stand in while teaching that is very comfortable with steps and all. You need to come see this thing. The craftsmanship is excellent."

All the professors go to see what has excited Filius so much. When they arrive at his classroom, he leads them over to the lectern; they examine the gold plaque with his name and the raised platform with the padding along with the steps and railing.

"I have never seen anything like this in all my seventy eight years of teaching, not from a first year. She just conjured it with a flick of her wand saying she saw it in a catalog at home and thought it would be safer than wobbly books to stand on. The padding made it comfortable for standing still. We could all use some sort of padding to stand on for long lectures. My legs are not even sore. She also said it was permanent as well." He explains.

Dumbledore pulls out his wand and performs some spells on it to determine whether or not it was indeed permanent. Most conjurations last a few hours at most. After checking his results he declares it a permanent conjuration. This also is an indication the Potters could put permanent enchantments on objects.

Professor Sinistra comments," I've a cousin who is a craftsman of fine wood furniture. I bet he would like to see this. It looks like a good item to make for sale."

"She did say that muggles use them in churches and schools. There are a lot more of them than us, so it must be a good business for them." Flitwick offers.

"I'll have a talk with her and get permission to use her design Professor Sinistra, and then you can contact your cousin." Professor Dumbledore says.

"Thank you," she says," I'm sure we can arrange a contract where the Potters would get a cut of the profits."

The professors all return to the Great Hall to finish lunch before the afternoon classes start. Professor Dumbledore stops by the Potters and asks them what was next on their schedules.

"We have a break and then Potions in an hour," Hermione answers," We were going to go outside and enjoy the nice weather."

"That's a good idea, please enjoy yourselves. I would like to see you by the head table after dinner tonight please."

"Certainly Professor, we'll be there," Harry says.

Professor Dumbledore smiles and says," Go on out and enjoy yourselves then."

They proceed out onto the grounds and sit down under a nice shade tree to study. Cedric sees them sitting there and walks over with a curious expression on his face.

"What did professor Dumbledore want," he asks?

"He wanted to see us at the front of the Great Hall by the head table after dinner." Harry answers.

"Do you know anything about where all the professors went during lunch?" Cedric asks," I've never seen them all get up and leave like that before."

Another student passing by, having overheard the question, puts in," I was sitting near the head table and overheard Flitwick excitedly talking about something that happened in his class of first years today and they all got up and left."

They all look at Harry and Hermione. She shrugs her shoulders and says," I did a conjuration today that Flitwick liked. I suppose that could be it."

The older students looked at her with wide eyes and Cedric says," Conjuration isn't taught until sixth year."

"Oh, no wonder he was surprised." Hermione says sheepishly.

Harry declares," Its fine; it just must be one of our unique abilities."

"You're right Harry; we just keep doing these things without realizing we shouldn't be able too." she says with dismay.

Cedric says chuckling," I wouldn't worry about it too much. It probably just means you two are very powerful with your magic. Just be careful how much power you put into some spells. You wouldn't want to levitate someone into orbit now, would you?"

She smiles back at him and says," No, I wouldn't want to do that."

They lounge around doing some of their homework from the first two classes and then pack up their books and head into the castle for potions.

Harry and Hermione make their way down to the dungeons to the potions class and take a seat near the front. They get out parchment, ink and quills to take notes and then wait for the Professor to show. Professor Snape bangs the door open startling everyone and strides to the front with his robes billowing and after a quick turn-around, says softly:

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." (JK Roweling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Ch. 8 Pg. 136 & 137)

Harry and Hermione were busily scratching down what he said as part of their notes for the class.

Snape looks down at them and sneers," It appears some people aren't paying attention. Writing letters in class Potter?" He reaches down and snatches Harry's parchment.

"Let's just read this out loud to the class shall we," He sneers, while everyone looks at Harry, embarrassed for him.

Harry just glares at him and says," Go ahead, you'll just be reading your speech over again. Hermione's parchment will have the same thing on it. We are here to learn and take notes while our teacher is lecturing. Professor, I have no idea why you have been glaring at me every chance you get like you hate me or something. But we will not tolerate bullying or picking on students. We have heard you are biased toward your own house and that Slytherin house has won the house cup every year since you started teaching here. That stops today. Now, we can lay down the rules in front of the class or we can retire to your office and have a more private chat."

Snape is seething at Harry and barely able to hold his temper, on top of that his arm still hurt.

He snaps," You're just as arrogant and unruly as your father. That will be fifty points each and two weeks detention for your arrogance and cheek."

The whole class is outraged at this and started grumbling.

Harry just looks at Snape with his arms crossed, leaning back in his chair," Very well, I will explain the facts of life to you in front of the class then since you don't know how to act like a professional teacher. Number one, Hermione and I own Hogwarts. That makes us your boss with final say in your employment. Number two, if you want continued employment with this now private school, you will start teaching this course properly, no more 'instructions are on the board get to work'. I doubt very much you learned potions this way. We want to know why ingredients act the way they do with each other. What the properties of the ingredients are. We should be taught proper safety precautions so no one gets hurt if they make a mistake during the potion making process. We want students to go away from here to pursue their mastery after passing their NEWTS and be able to say proudly, 'I learned potions from Potions Master Snape, the best potion master ever.'"

"All of that is in the book." Snape snaps.

"That may be so, but you are the one with years of experience. We heard you are one of the premier potions masters in the world and would be proud to learn under you. You need to leave the attitude at the door." Harrys says.

While Harry was talking he senses a presence on Snape's arm; looks over at Hermione and thinks:

_"Do you sense it as well?"_

She looks back at him and nods,_" Yes I do, let's see if he wants to get rid of it. I have a feeling it is having a negative effect on him. We can't in good conscious allow its influence to continue."_

Harry agrees and reaches out faster that anyone could see and grabs Professor Snape's arm in an iron grip and leads him into his office where they close the door while putting up silencing and impenetrable wards. Snape raises his eyebrows as he senses the wards going up.

"What do you want and how did you raise those wards. You're only first years." Snape demands to know.

"The wards are for privacy and to keep unwanted intruders out. I would have preferred to come in here to prevent you from embarrassment by being put down by a first year. Now first, proof we are the owner of Hogwarts."

Harry and Hermione hold up his their right hands, showing Snape the Founder's rings. His eyes go wide when sees the rings; two on Harry's hand and two on Hermione's. He looks at them and bows his head in respect and acknowledgement that they are his boss.

"Now for the main reason I grabbed your arm and forced you in here. Hermione and I can sense something sinister and evil on your arm and believe it is having a major negative effect on you. We plan on removing it from your arm so you can be free from its influence."

Snape says," No one can remove the dark mark but the Dark Lord, since he is the only one who can create it. For some reason it caused a sharp pain this morning and still has a dull ache to it. It has never done that before except when I was called by the dark lord during the last war."

"It's just a protean charm that allows Voldemort to feed off your life force. If all of the death eaters lost their dark marks, he probably wouldn't survive as he is now. The pain you felt were the castle wards going to full strength," Hermione states," We can remove this but it might be painful and you might want to lie down. Do you have any potions for pain relief? Also, you have to want this; do you truly repent for your actions in the last war? Your magic will know and you will suffer horribly if you are lying."

Snape nods yes," I've wanted to get rid of this thing ever since your mother got killed. She was my best friend when I was young and I feel like I betrayed her."

Harry looks into Professor Snape's eyes and sees the truth of his words.

"Ok here goes" Harry says," This will only take a minute."

Harry pushes Snape's sleeve up and they place both hands on the mark and close their eyes and concentrate on the mark, separating it from his arm. Professor Snape starts sweating and gritting his teeth from the pain. The mark comes completely loose from the professor's arm and after a minute he passes out. The Potters trace the magic back to its source.

"It's somewhere here in the castle," Hermione says.

Harry agrees and they dissipate the charm while bending down to check on the professor. Hermione conjures a cool cloth to place on his forehead and wipes the sweat away. After a minute he comes around and smiles up at them.

"I feel better than I have in a long while, thank you." Professor Snape says.

"You're welcome. I could see the truth in your eyes and I don't blame you for your part in the last war. By the way, don't worry about Voldemort coming back as Hermione and I were sent here equipped to handle him with ease. Otherwise we couldn't have done what we just did and you can assure the headmaster this is true. Let's get back into the classroom and see about the class, shall we?" Harry says gesturing towards the door.

They walk back into the classroom and everyone breathes a sigh of relief while Professor Snape gives Harry his parchment back.

"Did anyone else take notes during my welcome speech," the professor asks?

Some of the Ravenclaws and a few Huffelpuffs in the back raise their hands. The students in the front part of the class were afraid to take notes because they were worried about getting into trouble for not looking at the professor while he was talking.

"Very well, ten points to Ravenclaw and ten points to Hufflepuff for taking notes on the first day of class indicating your interest in the subject. Now, since we are short on time, I will explain how the ingredients for the first potion interact with each other and why they are cut or mashed in certain ways to be effective."

Everyone scrambles to get parchment and quill from their backpacks, ready to take notes, looking very eager to learn. Snape just smiles and continues with the lesson. When the bell rings Professor Snape assigns a twelve inch essay on the lesson, telling the students the essay is to be sure they understand the process for the first potion which will be brewed next class. He dismisses the class and then proceeds to the headmaster's office with a smile on his face for the first time in a long time.

When he arrives, he knocks on the door and waits to be called in.

"Enter," Professor Dumbledore says.

Professor Snape enters and stands in front of the desk dancing a little on his feet.

"What brings you here Severus?" he looks up into the professor's face and looks shocked at the big smile on his face.

"Those Potters are amazing," he says," Look what they have done."

He rolls up his sleeve and shows a bare white arm.

"I am finally free of that maniac and will never have to do his bidding again." Snape says gleefully.

"What are we going to do for a spy when he comes back?" Dumbledore asks.

"Harry assures me everything will work out. He told me that he and Hermione were sent here to take care of him and that they were well equipped for the job. This only took them about a minute," he said pointing to his arm," They closed their eyes and my arm started to glow. They didn't say a thing while the dark mark lifted off my arm and hovered there for minute or so and faded away. I think they were looking for the source. I passed out just as they finished and they revived me with a damp cloth to my forehead. "

_"Must be the powers he knows not_," Dumbledore thinks with hope in his heart blossoming for the first time. "I never had a chance, especially after what I saw this morning. I just wish Fawkes hadn't left, I miss him."

Musical trilling started to fill the room and Fawkes flashes back in and lands on his shoulder. He looks Dumbledore in the eye while trilling, looking deep into his heart. He finds that Dumbledore has truly repented his ways and has committed himself to helping the new leaders of the light for as long as he is able. Fawkes then re-bonds with Albus filling his heart with joy.

With tears in his eyes Albus says," I'm glad to see you Fawkes. I've really missed you. Why don't you go visit Hedwig for a few days while I get you a new perch? I'm afraid I gave her yours."

Fawkes trilled softly then took to the air and flashed out. Even Snape has tears in his eyes at the sight.

"I'm glad he came back Albus. You deserve to have a phoenix familiar." Severus says.

"No I didn't, Severus. Have a seat and I'll tell you why. Years ago, a Prophesy was made about a savior being born as the seventh month dies. You know this part from what you overheard in the pub. Yes my brother told me it was you."

"That's the one act during the last war that I regret the most. It got Lily killed, allowing me to finally see the light," Severus says sadly.

"Maybe, it might have happened anyway. Prophesies have a way of working themselves out despite interference from us. To continue, when I heard the Prophesy, I had it all planed out. I was going to prevent Harry from going to anyone except his magic hating relatives despite the Potter's will. They were to show Harry no love and make him weak and pliable so he would see me as a sort of savior and grandfather figure for taking him away from that environment. My plan was to have him dependent on me so I could mold him into a sacrificial weapon to deal with Voldemort, hopefully with them killing each other off, or Harry killing him, so I could have Harry arrested for murder allowing me to take over his lands and Vaults. I was not a very nice man at that time. I'm surprised Fawkes didn't leave me then."

"Maybe he sensed you still had some good in you." Severus offers.

"You may be right. I had Sirius chase after Peter Pettigrew so I could take Harry and hide him. When the street was blown up with those muggles and Peter killed, I saw an opportunity to get rid of Sirius as he was Harry's godfather, so he was sent to prison without a trial. If Peter wasn't dead, I could probably get Sirius a trial and get him freed. I may try anyway, if I can get Fudge to agree. Everything was going to plan until Harry's eighth birthday, when I felt a massive magical pulse coming from Harry's house. All of my detection and tracking instruments assigned to him had melted and I had lost all contact. I went to Privet Drive and found Harry gone, with the Dursley's having their memory wiped of all knowledge of Harry Potter. They don't even know they are his relatives or anything about the magical world. I doubt Petunia even remembers she had a sister. I think I gave them a fright when I walked in uninvited, because they thought I was a burglar or something. After scanning their minds to verify their story I apologized and left."

Severus says, "I remember that day. I was working on a particularly hard potion to brew that was needed to replenish the supplies in the hospital wing. Do you know what caused the pulse?"

"I believe it was Harry and Hermione's initial bonding. Even though Harry had disappeared, I still hoped I would be able to control him, through her if necessary, once they arrived here. That was put to rest rather quickly on sorting day and that is not all they have done since they arrived. I'm sure you felt the wards change this morning. If you had left the grounds with that mark on your arm, you would not have been able to come back due to the new wards. The house elves have also reverted to their original form."

"What do you mean Albus?" Severus asks.

"Let me show you." Albus says then calls out," Tippy?"

Tippy pops in and asks," How may I help you this evening headmaster?"

Severus looks at the elf noticing the changes and his eyes widen in surprise.

"Tell Severus what happened to the elves in Hogwarts please." Albus asks politely.

Tippy turns to Severus and smiles," I see you no longer have the evil presence in you Potions Master. I'm glad for you. To answer the headmaster's question, Lord and Lady Potter broke the ancient curse on us by freeing us with clothes and then re-bonding with us as family. We are now brothers and sisters to the Lord and Lady. It can be done as friends as well but they insisted on family. It has always been the way of the elf to bond with a wizard's family as a helper and to share their magic as we can't survive without the bond. In return for sharing magic we would work for them in whatever capacity they needed. I am proud my name is Tippy Potter now." With that she pops away.

"Did you notice the difference Severus?" Albus asks.

"Yes, she is taller and looks more like the elves of legend. Her speech is quite well cultured as well." Severus answers.

"The Potters have been doing amazing things since they got here and it is only the first full day of school for them. The thing that finally brought it all together for me was when you showed me your arm. This must be the power he knows not part of the Prophesy. I truly believe they are the new leaders of the light."

"Well, they've got my vote," Severus says, his stomach rumbling, "Let's go to dinner."

They leave the office together and make their way to the Great Hall in anticipation of a good meal. They walk up to the head table and as they were passing Professor McGonagall's seat she asks, "What's got you so chipper this evening Severus?"

"The Potters," he says with a smile.

She smiles back and says," Yes, they do seem to have that effect on everyone. Enjoy your dinner."

"Thank you, I think I will." he replies back.

Harry and Hermione are sitting at the table eating dinner while observing the head table when Harry comments," I think we did a good thing this afternoon Hermione. Look at Professor Snape; he is actually smiling and laughing."

She smiles at Harry and says," I love it when a good plan comes together. Of course the extra bonus will be a happier Snape and properly taught lessons."

Harry laughs and kissed her saying," I love you Mrs. Potter."

She kisses him back and says," I love you too Mr. Potter. Don't forget the meeting."

"I haven't forgotten." Harry says.

ooOOoo


	10. The Lectern and the New Council

_**Chapter 10: The Lectern and the new Council**_

The Potters have a pleasant meal together and when everyone has cleared the hall, the couple walks up to the front to meet with the headmaster and the other Professors.

"You wanted to see us Headmaster?" they ask in unison.

Professor McGonagall groans," Not the twins again."

"Whatever do you mean?" they say in unison again to the amusement of everyone.

"We've been able to do that since we were bonded. Drives our parents crazy while being great fun for us," Hermione says smiling," What can we do for you?"

The headmaster says," First of all, I wanted to say thank you for helping Severus, and the other wonderful things you both have done today. I feel much better now with the new wards."

The headmaster looked around and noticed Quirell wasn't there.

"Is something wrong Headmaster," Harry asks?

"No, not really, I guess our defense professor isn't interested in why I called this meeting. Oh well it's his loss. There are two things I want to ask you Mrs. Potter. First, Professor Sinistra has a cousin that is in the Wood Crafting trade and wants to get permission to use your design for the Lectern in Professor Flitwick's class to craft more to sell. They would be willing to make a contract with you to share any profits from sales. And second, would you make one for here in the great hall," he asks?

Hermione just laughs, looked at professor Sinistra and says," That design is not really mine. I just remembered a picture I saw in a catalog and used that to conjure the one for professor Flitwick. The picture didn't show all the details since it was just a flat two sided view, so of course I had to fill in a few details as I pictured what I thought it should look like. All lecterns have the same general design and are used in the muggle world by churches, schools and businesses that have large meeting rooms for the speaker to stand behind to do his or her presentation. He can look at that one and get ideas for his own designs. They can be anything from a fancy design to a stick with a flat board on top to hold your book. No contract is necessary."

She turns back to the Headmaster and puts her finger on her chin while thinking.

"I know what kind of lectern we need here," she says brightly," we need one anyone can use."

She takes her wand out for appearance sake and points it to where the lectern needs to be. There is a bright flash and a beautiful mahogany lectern appears where the Headmaster always stands to make his speeches. The lectern is about three feet wide and five feet tall with round gold colored hand rails going up the back. On the front was the Hogwarts crest with a blank gold name plaque above it and right below the top. The plaque was to display the name of the current speaker. The top was slanted slightly so the speaker could glance down at their notes easily with raised sides to keep a breeze from blowing the notes away. The standing platform had a cushioned pad on it for comfort and was adjustable for the person using it.

Hermione looks it over and says," I hope I got it high enough to see over the heads of the students. The platform has a permanent levitating charm on it that will raise and lower you to the desired height you need. The charm uses the schools magic to stay charged."

She looks over at Professor Sinistra and asks her," Is there a way to keep a charm charged in a public setting?

The professor thinks for a minute and says," Yes. I believe there are some runes that would work for that. Since you can make them permanent, we might need that contract after all."

Hermione says," Fine, any profits can go to the school. You just need to show us what to do."

Hermione looks at Professor Flitwick and asks," Would you mind being the guinea pig for testing?"

He laughs and says," I'd be delighted." He walks over and stands next to the lectern.

Hermione says by way of instruction," The standing platform has two parts you need to be aware of. The back section here is not padded and has a line to show you where to stand," she points to the back section which has the line showing where to stand," To start the lifting process, take hold of the hand rails so you don't lose your balance and step onto the line. When you have reached your desired height, step on to the padded area and you will stop rising. This should make is easier to give your speech or lesson as you will be able to see all of your audience while they can see you. When you are done, step back on the line again and you will come down. Be sure to hold onto the hand rails for safety. Each time you step off the line and back on again the direction will change. Go ahead and give it a try professor."

Professor Flitwick grabs the hand rails and steps onto the line causing the platform to start lifting him up. When gets where he wants to be, he steps forward and the lift stops. He looks around and claps his hands and says," Well done Mrs. Potter this is perfect. Now I can give lessons in here without standing on the head table to be seen, wonderful."

He steps back onto the line to come down while grabbing the rails and when he gets down everyone else gives it a try. After they were all done they gather around Mrs. Potter to congratulate her for a job well done. The Headmaster clears his throat to get every ones attention.

He looks at Hermione and says." Do you have any idea what you have done is called?"

She looks at Harry who just shrugs his shoulders and looks back at the Headmaster and says," I didn't know it had name other than conjuring."

The headmaster smiles and explains," Permanent conjuring is called enchantment. Very few wizards or witches can do it and even then, not in this detail. This type of enchantment takes a lot of power and control. Quite remarkable for one so young, although, after what I saw this morning not so surprising."

Hermione just blushes and says," Harry and I have only been doing magic since his birthday at the end of July. We bought a lot of advanced books about various branches of magic and tried the out the spells found in them. They all worked for us. In one of the first advanced books we looked at after finishing our course books we read that magic is all about intent. If you know what you want to do with your magic and have the power, you can do anything. I guess we have the power because everything we have tried so far has worked."

The headmaster thinks this over and nods. He says," I still don't understand how you have that much power in such small bodies."

Hermione thinks to Harry while looking at him_," do you think it's alright to tell them?"_

Harry considers it for a few seconds while looking back at her and thinks_," We will really need the help of adults for guidance until we grow up and mature."_

_"But which ones do we pick? We want a well-rounded council of advisors,"_ Hermione thinks to Harry.

_"I would suggest each head of house, plus the Headmaster. We know we can trust them as they are the permanent staff of the school and will be here until they retire."_ Harry thinks back to Hermione.

"_That sounds good to me. You ready to give them our decision?"_ Hermione thinks to Harry.

Harry says out loud," Yes let's do it."

While they are talking Minerva whispers to Albus," Look at them, they are having a discussion in their heads about what to do next."

He just nods and whispers back," Let's just see what they come up with, shall we."

Harry looks at the Headmaster and says," There is an explanation, but it is something that is very private to Hermione and I, so we would like to request the four heads of house to retire to the Headmasters office for this discussion."

"Very well Mr. Potter, let's retire to my office. Everyone else is dismissed, thank you for your time away from your evening." The Headmaster says.

As they walk up towards the Headmaster's office the gargoyle moves aside with no prompting allowing everyone to proceed up the stairs. Once in the office Harry points his wand toward the corner and duplicates Fawkes perch for him so he can come home.

Harry says," Hedwig told us Fawkes came back. I'm glad for you sir."

"Thank you Harry,"Albus says.

Albus conjures some nice chairs in a circle for the meeting and everyone but Harry takes a seat. Harry sets privacy wards around the immediate group so the portraits can't hear anything and anti-intruder wards around the room to prevent unwanted entry. The Headmaster raises his eyebrows, but doesn't say anything.

Harry looks over at Hermione for reassurance. She nods so he starts," I picked the heads of house and you Headmaster because you five are more or less permanent employees of the school. Before I start, I would like to ask if you are willing to give oaths of fealty to me and Hermione as we don't want this to ever get out of this room until we say so. It is not dangerous to any of you unless you were let it slip what we are. This would fall under the Queens state secrets act if we were muggles."

He looks around trying to gauge their reaction. He reaches over and grabs Hermione's hand. She stands up next to him and holds on tight.

Harry says," the oath could be worded like this: 'I ,your name, swear on my life and magic that I will not reveal The Potters secrets, nor will I ever betray them, so mote it be.' We are not trying to make you servants or anything. We just want you to keep our secrets, and also be our advisors in case anything major comes up that we can't handle due to our lack of experience or that our unique abilities might solve. We are still children and need adults in our lives until we grow up and become fully mature. We would consider you five our council of advisors. "

Everyone let out a breath of relief and agreed to give oath for those reasons. After oaths were given and accepted all around Harry continued with Hermione standing at his side:

"First, have any of you ever heard the legend of the Elders?"

The Headmaster says," there are legends of mages that could do wandless magic and pretty much whatever they wanted with magic itself. I believe Merlin might have been one."

Harry nods," That might be possible. Headmaster, since the Prophesy has a large role in this; could you replay it for the council? It will help everyone understand what I am going to tell them."

"Of course Harry, if you think it is important." He takes his pensive out and places it on the table and pulls the memory for viewing and deposits it in the bowl."

He swirls it around and everyone sticks a finger in the bowl to enter the memory.

They find themselves in a room with a younger Dumbledore and Trelawney.

"This was my interview with Professor Trelawney for her job at divination."

Harry says," She is descended from a group of oracles that crash landed their spaceship here millennia ago, most of the seers are. The ship was damaged beyond repair with no way to call for help. There may have been a few that were native to this planet, but who knows. Look, she's starting."

The young lady that is now the Divination professor's eyes glaze as they watch over and she throws her head back and recites:

_**"The one to vanquish the dark lord approaches. Born as the seventh month dies. Born to ones who have thrice defied him. With his soul mate by his side, they will have powers the dark lord knows not. Powers from Heaven and Earth not understood by mortal man. Together they will bring the world into peace and harmony. The one to vanquish the dark lord approaches."**_

When her eyes re-focus the memory ends and everyone finds themselves back in their seats.

They all look at Harry as he says," That was a true Prophesy which was originally heard on a planet called Thebes in the Magnus galaxy. Everyone here knows what a galaxy is right?"

Everyone nods," Sorry, I'm not trying to contest your intelligence. It is just the Magical world in England is at least two hundred years behind the muggle world in society and government. If the general muggle public ever finds out about us we are doomed. There are at least one thousand of them to every one of us. Voldemort seems to think muggles are beneath us and almost exposed our world with his last war. Indiscriminately killing muggles for sport is NOT a good idea. It focuses too much attention on us. The pureblood bigots out there like the Malfoys have no concept of the difference between our worlds. They think like Voldemort as far as muggles are concerned. For example: The Malfoys have a nice, large mansion that is protected by very good wards against attack by wizards. They probably have muggle repelling wards that won't allow muggles to see their house, much like Hogwarts. I promise you that if the muggls were to put their best scientific minds to the problem, they would find a way to see the house, even if it was just a blank area on the radar screen that should have something there. All that is needed to destroy their large home is a single bomb dropped by an airplane twenty thousand feet high in the air and guided by a laser aimed by a soldier on the ground and the bomb will hit the house leaving nothing but a crater. They also have single bombs that can destroy whole cities. Thank Merlin they have only been used on two cities in Japan to end the muggles world war two. Albus may know something about that."

He nods to confirm Harry's story.

"I know that was fairly long, but all of that is part of the reason we were created and sent here," Harry explains.

"Hermione and I are not one hundred percent what people of Earth would call human. We were both born here on Earth by mothers who couldn't have children of their own. The only thing Earth human about our DNA is we look like our parents and have the magical blood line of our ancestors. The rest of our DNA has been enhanced by magical technicians from another planet in the Genova Galaxy a few million light years from here. If I'm talking over your head, don't worry about it as it really doesn't mean anything other than we are part alien from another planet sent to save Earth from itself."

"It all started with the Prophesy being received by the recipient oracle on the planet most of our DNA is from. They extracted two eggs from two different mothers on our planet and the seed from the fathers on this planet, manipulating and enhancing the DNA to insure success; along with adding Nano-probes to help our bodies cope until they matured enough. Maturation of our bodies happened to each of us when we turned eight which is the age most witches and wizards start manifesting magical powers. The probes are also the reason we have perfect recall, they record everything. Hermione's parents knew about the procedure as they volunteered for it. They were desperate for a child and Earth medical technology couldn't fix her mother's problem. They had found an ad in a medical journal they subscribed to and paid a visit to a small clinic. Once they arrived at the clinic a scanning device that was discreetly hidden in the door traced their bloodlines back to two of the founders of Hogwarts which was perfect for fulfilling the Prophesy. Hermione is not a muggle born like everyone thinks. My parents were chosen because their ancestry was a matter of record. They were visited in the night while they were sleeping."

"What planet are you from Harry?" Dumbledore asks.

"The planets name was Solust but it was destroyed sometime around my birth when its sun went nova. We call Earth home since we were born here. There are uncounted numbers of other planets in the twenty eight known galaxies and we are here to bring Earth into the Intergalactic Community of Planets which will probably take a few years. We have to unite the governments of Earth first. Hopefully that will happen during your lifetime. Hermione and I are Elders, like the ones of legend, but being born here on Earth under the radiation from a medium "G" type star with our different DNA has had one side effect that was unexpected by our medical technicians."

"What was that," Severus asks?

"The Prophesy that started all of this was actually from the Creator of all things and made us immortal when we bonded." Harry says.

Everyone gasps and look at them in awe and then gets down on their knees with their heads bowed.

Harry says," No need for that, we are not gods. We are immortals and the DNA from Solust makes us invulnerable so we can't be hurt. We have other powers that we haven't discovered yet and are still children with children's needs. We need love and affection, which we get in abundance from our parents, but we need guidance, which is what we seek from this council. We trust each of you to do what is right instead of what is easy and if you see a situation that our unique abilities will help correct, we will help if we agree with your reasoning. Hermione and I will be here for a very long time and will be glad to be a part of your lives. I think this should be enough information to get the council started on discussion of procedures and other things such as ranks and specialties if needed. We would like for Albus to be in charge as he has the most experience in magic and please keep this secret. By the way, you each get a twenty five percent increase in pay for doing this as compensation for your time. Hermione and I are going to bed. It has been a long day."

They all look pleased at the raise. The extra gold is welcomed by everyone.

"Thank you for still believing in me Harry," Albus says smiling.

"You can thank Fawkes for that. When he came back to you, I knew you had changed to warrant the trust. Goodnight sir."

"Goodnight Harry." Albus replies.

Harry and Hermione walk through the common room to their bed room and after changing into night clothes fall instantly asleep in their bed. (I wish I could do that)

Back in the headmasters office the council is sitting around having tea and biscuits discussing what to do next. They are still in awe that two immortals are in the school.

Albus says," We each have our own unique abilities so I don't think we need anything like ranks for the council. We will all contribute equally according to our talents. This is definitely a new way of thinking about our world after what Harry said about the muggles abilities. This makes the statute of secrecy even more important. Fudge may be aware of some of the muggle's abilities as he has a direct connection with their prime minister, but I don't think he has a clue of the overall picture. We will have to keep an eye on him and the wizengamot to make sure they don't pass any laws that will be a danger to exposing our world. I know the minister's undersecretary is like the Malfoys in her beliefs, only she carries it over to magical peoples like the goblins and centaurs and she thinks muggles are less than animals. We will have to keep an eye on her as well, along with teaching the Potters politics. Harry holds three seats in the Wizengamot while Hermione holds two, which can be voted by proxy till they reach their majority by someone they trust. We will sit back, observe, and advise the Potters as best we can."

Everyone agrees and Albus calls an end to the meeting so they can all retire for the evening.

ooOOoo


	11. Dealing with Purebloods and Halloween

_**Chapter 11: Dealing with Purebloods and Halloween**_

School settles into a routine for Harry and Hermione as they do their lessons and earn points for their house. As they are walking down the hall towards the dungeons one day for potions they hear some screaming coming from down the hall around the corner from the entrance to the dungeons. Harry looks at Hermione and they hurry around the corner to find out who is doing the screaming and why. As they round the corner they come into view of a scene with Malfoy and his gang along with a few older Slytherins surrounding Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot. Susan is being held by one of the older boys while Malfoy is pointing his wand at Hannah.

"You are just a half blood, while she is a blood traitor. All you're good for is torturing and making into slaves for us purebloods." Malfoy sneers," you will soon see who runs this school."

Harry speaks up and asks, "And whom might that be Malfoy. Apparently you didn't listen when I spoke to you at the beginning of the year."

"My father says I don't have to listen to you. He holds a seat on the board of governors and can have you expelled. You're just a half blood, like Abbott, and she is worse," Malfoy sneers and says, pointing at Hermione," she's just a mudblood, not worthy of learning magic. She probably stole it from someone else."

Harry looks at Hermione smiling and asks," You want to handle this sweetheart?"

"I'd love to darling," she smiles back.

She looks over at Draco and says smiling," Oh look, this mudblood is about to do something even purebloods can't do."

Not bothering to take out her wand, she waves her hand and all the Slytherins find themselves stuck to the hallway wall five feet off the floor, freeing Susan and Hannah in the process. She waves her hand again and all of their wands come floating into her hand.

She has a smirk on her face as she floats up to be eye level with Draco, who swallows nervously. Hermione starts pacing backs and forth in front of the group then starts off with her rant:

"You **should** be nervous Draco. You obviously don't know how to think for yourself and you are letting your father brainwash you into his bigoted way of thinking. Your father doesn't acknowledge he is working for Harry and I, does he? He is nothing more than an advisor for this private school, which is a position that he can be fired from by this little old mudblood. By the way, my bloodline happens to go further back than yours. My husband and I own this school and your father is trying his best to ruin your life. Does your mother also agree with him or is she subservient to him without a say in her life. After all she was sold to him like a side of beef by the Black family," she spat," disgusting way to get a wife."

"It's always been that way between pureblood families." one of the older Slytherins said," its tradition."

"That tradition is why you purebloods are dying out. With only one child per family, and only about fifty families to choose from, just to keep your blood pure. The inbreeding has gotten so bad that in the not so distant future all that will be born to pure-blood families is squibs, because you are breeding the magic right out of your families. That's alright though; plenty of healthy halfbloods and mudbloods to fill in the gap so at least magic will still be around."

"Just wait till my father hears about this outrage. He'll put you in your place," Draco declares arrogantly.

Hermione just shakes her head and sighs saying to herself," well, I tried."

Then more loudly hoping to make a point to the dunderhead," Draco, where are you and what am I doing right now?"

Draco says," I'm near the dungeons in Hogwarts and you are talking to me."

One of the older Slytherins snorts and says," You must be comfortable being stuck to a wall five feet off the floor. Me, I don't want my legs broken by a wrong landing when she lets us go. I will not listen to you about how important your father is again. It's obvious to me who has the power to back up her words."

After hearing that, she asks the other older Slytherins," Do you all agree to that?"

They all nod their heads yes and she says," very well, you may go if you promise not to pick on the younger students. However, if you have a problem with someone that involves family honor, convince me or Harry and we will allow you to fight a legal duel for that honor. We have nothing against tradition, except that the marriage contracts are killing you off and we would like to see that changed to preserve the families important to Britain."

She waves her hand and lowers the older Slytherins who nod to her and after getting their wands back go on down the hall. She looks back at Malfoy and his two bookends, Crabbe and Goyle and then says:

"Where was I, oh yea, Malfoy, you are stuck to a wall five feet off the floor and what am I doing?" she asks.

He looks at her and realizes she is standing on air with no support.

"You must be doing a levitation charm or something." Draco reasons out.

As Harry floats up to stand next to her she says," No Draco, we haven't had that lesson yet. This is just something Harry and I can do. It is why we are so good on brooms. My point here is you have nothing to back up your boasting with. You haven't the power or the nerve to accomplish anything because you listen to your father."

"When my father," Draco rants.

She cuts him off," Draco, you're hopeless and helpless."

She releases the sticking charm holding the boys up, allowing the them to fall three feet then slows them, lowering them to the floor while Harry and Hermione come down to the floor by walking down what look like steps of air. You can see the air shimmering.

She says to Draco," Go to your dorm and think on what I have said."

"I don't have to do what you say mudblood." Draco sneers with his nose stuck up in the air.

"Enough!" Hermione exclaims. She waves her hand and Draco disappears.

"Where'd he go? Hannah asked.

Harry looks over at the two girls and says," Draco was sent to his dorm to spend a week away from other students. He has a sign around his neck that says 'I don't know how to keep my mouth shut'. He won't be able to talk to anyone but Professor Snape for the week." Then asks concerned," Are you two okay? Do you need to go to the hospital wing?"

Hannah answers," I'm okay now; I was just scared with all those older boys surrounding us and not letting us get by. We were on our way to potions."

"That's where we are headed as well. Why don't you come with us?" Hermione asks.

"We'd love to," Susan says.

They head off down to the potions classroom for their next lesson.

Professor Snape comes out of the shadows, having watched as the Potters handle the situation with his Slytherins while his opinion of them rises even more. He agrees with their punishment of Draco as it didn't hurt him physically and he might learn something.

The year progresses normally until Halloween day. Harry is a little depressed as he and Hermione are walking along a hallway on the way to breakfast on the morning of the holiday. It is storming something fierce and it looks like it will not be a nice day to go outside.

They hear one of the other students in the hall commenting," Looks like we will be celebrating inside this year. I feel sorry for anyone having to go out in that," while pointing out the window.

"Harry," Hermione says, taking his arm and snuggling up to him," we can have a little ceremony for your parents if you want. I don't like seeing you depressed like this once a year. This should be a day of celebration."

"That would be nice Hermione," Harry says perking up a little," When and where do you want to hold it?"

"We could use one of the unused classrooms and set up an alter or something to burn some incense and have a small sacrifice of our blood to the elements to honor your parents." Hermione says," We could hold it right after breakfast."

Harry looks at her and smiles nodding his head in agreement.

After a delicious breakfast, they proceed down an unused hallway to find an empty room they could use for the ritual. When they find one, they go in and close the door. From the desk that was in the room, Hermione transfigures a small sacrificial alter with the runes for Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire on each of the four sides on top with a Pentagram in the center for balance. They kneel facing each other and reach out their hands across the alter and clasp left to right and right to left and hold on tight. They will their probes to release the blood for the sacrifice and when they feel the blood start to flow they rise up off the floor a couple of inches and start rotating to the left with the Alter as the center. As each rune is filled by the mixed blood of the elders, it starts glowing and flashes red once, with the glow locking at a steady level. Once the runes are filled and activated, they put a drop of blood on each point of the star which then starts to glow a bright white, lighting up the room, and then chant in unison:

**_"To the Gods of Earth, Wind, Water and Fire, and to the Creator of all things, we offer this sacrifice of our blood in honor of James and Lilly Potter, for sacrificing their lives that the Prophesy would be fulfilled. May their journey through the next great adventure be filled with joy and happiness? We give them our love and we miss them."_**

There is a loud clap of thunder outside and the storm clears swiftly with bright sunshine and pleasant temperatures as the Gods accept the sacrifice. When Harry and Hermione come down from their chant and look at the Alter, there is a planter with White Lilies and Red Carnations going around the perimeter with the names of James and Lilly in script across the top. The Nano-probes had drawn the remaining blood back into their hands leaving them clean.

Harry looks at the Alter and sees his parents name scrolled across the top and grabs Hermione's hand and pulls her to him.

He speaks very emotionally," Dad, Mum, even though you didn't know there was a Prophesy about me, I would like you to meet Hermione, my soul mate and wife. You'd lover her mum, she is just like you, I've been told. She is smart and beautiful and the most wonderful thing to ever happen to me. She keeps me in line just like I am sure you do for Dad. Dad, she is my biggest responsibility and I promise to love her and treat her as a proper husband should. We are equal partners in everything and couldn't be happier. I miss you Dad and Mum; We miss you. This will be your room from now on and we will come here when we need to talk to you. We will always love you, bye for now."

When they look up from the Alter, they notice the room has changed into a chapel type room with some mats for people to sit and pay their respects or just meditate quietly. There is a portrait of the elder Potters on the wall opposite the door. They hear movement by the door and turn to see the Headmaster standing there.

"That was a nice thing you did for them Harry and Hermione. This room will always be theirs now. The wards won't allow anyone with malicious intent to enter the room." Professor Dumbledore says," In case you are wondering why I am here, I felt the release of magic from this room and came to investigate. Apparently your sacrifice pleased the gods because the weather outside is beautiful now. You should go out and enjoy it while you can."

"Thank you Headmaster, I believe we will." Hermione replies.

Harry and Hermione walk out the main doors onto the grounds to enjoy the day, he with his arm around her and her with her head on his shoulder. As they are relaxing under their favorite tree, they keep overhearing other students commenting on the miraculous recovery of the weather. They look at each other, smile, while thanking the gods again. They stand up after a while and start strolling around the grounds hand in hand when they were bowled over by a girl their age that is crying. She gets up and after apologizing runs off still crying. Hermione calls after her but she keeps running.

She looks at Harry and asks," I wonder what's wrong with her?"

"I don't know, but I hate to see anyone crying like that." Harry replies.

Hermione agrees, when someone speaks up and says," That was Camilla Carmichael, a Muggle born first year from Ravenclaw. She is doing real well in class, but some of the first year purebloods have been threatening her about mudbloods not being allowed to have grades better than theirs. Her friends are too afraid to stick up for her as they are always outnumbered. Disgusting really."

"Thanks," Harry says," we'll keep an eye out for her to make sure she is alright."

They eventually go back inside to have dinner. While they are eating, Hermione looks over at the Ravenclaw table and notices Camilla isn't there. She gets up and walks over to the Ravenclaw table where she asks:

"Has anyone seen Camilla Carmichael?"

"She was in the second floor girl's bathroom crying a few minutes ago. She is a very emotional girl and it doesn't take much to set her off. I suppose that is why she always gets picked on, but she is usually alright after a few minutes." someone says.

"Thank you for the information. Harry and I will take care of it." Hermione states.

She walks back to her seat next to Harry and says," She's in the second floor girl's bathroom crying. Her housemates say she cries easy and that is why she gets picked on all the time. I want try and help her so she can fit in better. I know what it like getting picked on to tears in school."

"Harry nods and says," Looks like we have some more purebloods that need to be put in their place."

She nods back agreeing and is about to leave to go find her when the doors to the Great Hall slam open with Professor Quirrell running in and yelling:

"Troll, **Troooll** in the dungeon," he yells, then squeaks," thought you ought to know."

He then fell on the floor face first in a faint. In that instant, before the panic set in, Harry and Hermione look down at the professor on the floor; looking back at them with hatred was a face on the back of Quirrell's head.

"Do you see that, Hermione?" Harry asks.

"Yes Harry, looks like we can see through things when the situation warrants it. That must be the dark presence we have been sensing in his classroom. He has never had his back to us that I can remember so we didn't notice. If he is being possessed, we need to find a way to clear the possessor out without killing the host."

Harry agrees as the panic sets in and everyone starts screaming and getting up from their seats.

Professor Dumbledore stands up and says," **SILENCE**. Prefects will lead their houses back to their dormitories while the teachers will head to the dungeons."

Hearing this Harry stands up and says," **Hold**."

Everyone stops and looks at him.

Slytherin house will stay here, where it is safer, as their house is in the dungeons. The other houses may proceed to their dorms," Harry says, then looks at the Slytherin head of house," Professor Snape, would you proceed to your house and make sure they stay there for now? You may assign a prefect that is already there to take charge while you help the teachers."

Snape nods at Harry and hurries off while the Slytherin students sit back down sighing in relief.

Harry and Hermione look at each other and say together," Camilla!"

"She doesn't know Harry, we have to hurry," Hermione says.

They leave the great hall and run towards the second floor bathroom. They notice a foul odor in the air that gets worse the closer they get to the bathroom. When they arrive, they hear a scream coming from the bathroom and run in to see what they can do to help. Harry and Hermione enter the restroom just in time to see a twelve foot mountain troll about to swing its club down onto Camilla who is crouched down in a corner scared to death. Harry grabs a piece of debris and throws it at the trolls head to get its attention away from Camilla. It works as the troll turns around and swings its club at Harry instead. Harry catches the club in both hands and holds it there. While holding the club he asks Hermione to Help Camilla get out.

"Don't kill it Harry," Hermione says.

"I'll try not to Hermione. Let's see if it will talk to me." Harry responds.

Harry takes the club from the troll and lays it across his shoulder like a bat and floats up until he is eye level with the troll. The troll looks at him and scratches it head and grunts.

"What's your name?" Harry grunts at the troll.

"Glug," the troll grunts back.

While Harry is talking to the troll, the professors come in and see Harry up in the air in front of the troll standing there with the club on his shoulder.

"Why are you in here trying to kill a little girl and how did you get in here?" Harry grunts and squeals.

"Glug hungry, man with funny hat said lots of food here. He brought me here with pretty lights and pointed that way and said I could have all the food I want." Glug says with lots of grunts and squeals while pointing down the hallway towards the Great Hall.

"Do you have food at home, and where is home?" Harry grunts.

Glug nods and grunts," Forest."

"Think of home and I will take you there" Harry grunts and squeals.

"Be right back, Hermione and I will handle Quirrell when the time comes, just keep an eye on him." Harry states.

They nod and just as Quirrell arrives, he sees Harry reach out and touch Glug. He watches as they phase out and after about a minute of waiting, Harry phases back in on the ground standing next to Hermione.

Harry looks at Camilla and asks," Are you all right?"

She looks at Harry in awe and says shakily," I will be in a little while once my knees quit shaking. That was awesome. You're not afraid of anything, are you?"

"Not really," Harry said," Hermione and I are fairly good with situations like this. I'm just glad we got here before you got hurt. I think you should be looked at by Madam Pomfrey just to be sure though."

Said healer is nodding her head in agreement and she takes Camilla up to the hospital wing for a thorough check up. You can bet Camilla will tell her dorm mates what she witnessed and the whole school will know by morning. The legend of Harry and Hermione Potter continues to grow.

Harry looks at the headmaster and asks," May we meet with you in your office?"

The headmaster nods and dismisses the other professors to check after their students before leading them to his office.

"Albus," Harry says after they arrive," Professor Quirrell has a face on the back of his head underneath that turban he wears all the time. We believe he is possessed by an evil spirit or soul; quite possibly Voldemort himself."

Albus sits back in his chair, his face paling.

He sighs and says," It may be my fault. He was under a lot of stress last year and I suggested he take a sabbatical in Albania to relieve the stress."

"Why Albania, headmaster," Hermione asks?

"The weather is pleasant there in the summer and the scenery is nice with lots of magical tourist places to visit." He replies.

Harry says," Then it isn't your entire fault. Voldemort must have thought so too and may have possessed more than one tourist till he found the right one to bring him here. He must be looking for something in the school."

"It will be the Philosophers Stone then. Professor Snape caught him trying to sneak onto the third floor while the troll was loose." Albus says.

"You don't mean it is real," Hermione exclaims?

She and Harry had read the muggle legend that told of a stone that could extend life and change any metal into gold.

"I guess there must be other muggle myths and legends based on things from the magical world as well." She states, nodding her head in thought.

Harry asks," What's it doing at the school?"

"The Flamel's wanted to take a yearlong vacation and didn't want to leave the stone at their home where they couldn't protect it. I told them the wards at Hogwarts were stronger than Gringotts and that I would watch it for them while they were gone." Albus answers.

"Is there a way to exorcise Voldemort from Quirrell without killing him?" Hermione asks hopefully.

"None that I know of," Albus answers; he looks at them with hope in his eyes also and says," But I also thought the dark mark couldn't be removed either. Maybe with your powers it could be accomplished?"

"We have to try Harry," Hermione says.

"I agree Hermione. I would rather not kill anyone if there is a way around it," Harrys says while looking at Hermione, then turns to Albus," We will have to destroy the stone Albus. Are the Flamels going be alright with that?"

"Harry, the Flamels are over six hundred years old and have found out immortality isn't all it is cracked up to be and want to die, but the curse of the stone won't allow them to. With the stone gone, they can finally pass on to the next great adventure together." Albus says," I hope you and Hermione don't find immortality something you can't live with and are stuck with it."

"We have a great purpose that will keep us occupied for millennia. Maybe sometime in the far future the Creator will look at us and say job well done. Then we will go in peace gladly." Hermione says. "We need to set up a situation to allow Quirrell to go after the stone."

"I'm sure we will come up with something. Why don't you go to your rooms and get some rest. It has been a rather exiting day." Albus suggests.

"Good idea," Harry yawns," See you in the morning Headmaster."

Harry takes Hermione's hand and they walk slowly back to their room and climb in bed to fall instantly asleep.

The next morning they get up and go down to breakfast where they have pleasant conversation with their friends. The first class of the day is History of Magic class where after listening to the professor drone on about goblin wars again they have had enough. Harry and Hermione double checked their books and found nothing newer than four hundred years ago. They look at each other and nod; it is time to talk to the Professor about the class. Everyone else was asleep anyway, which is unacceptable for an important a class as History.

Hermione raises her hand and clears her throat to get his attention.

He looks up and says," yes miss?"

"Hermione Potter, your boss." She answers back. This gets the classes attention and most of them wake up.

He looks at her irritated at the interruption," Do you have a question about goblins?"

"No, I was wondering why you don't teach anything newer than four hundred years ago." She stated.

"This is recent history, the goblin wars only ended less than fifty years before." He says. Apparently, when Binns died in his sleep, he didn't realize he was dead and kept coming to his class and teaching.

"Sorry to have bothered you Professor," she says.

He just grunts and goes back to his lecture.

Hermione looks at Harry and says," We need to have a talk with Professor Dumbledore."

He agrees and they pack their things and head to the Headmaster's office. They arrive at the gargoyle and it moves aside for them with no command. The pair proceeds up the stairs to Dumbledore's office and Harry knocks on the door.

"Enter," the Headmaster says.

Harry and Hermione enter the office and sit in the chairs Harry conjures.

"What can I do for you?" he asks.

Hermione says," We have to have a different History of Magic teacher."

"What's wrong with Professor Binns?" The Headmaster asks." He's been with us for a long time and no one complains."

"He thinks the goblin wars took place fifty years ago instead of four hundred. I think he has just been coming to class and droning the same thing for four hundred years because he is a ghost and can't change. He can have the classroom he is using and anyone that needs his lessons can attend, if they can stay awake, to complete their OWLS. He's just quoting directly from the book anyway, plus he can't give essays to be graded because he can't pick them up. We need a class that teaches more recent history and it wouldn't hurt to have classes on how the government works. Maybe they can be integrated into one class and I will leave who you get up to you. Put an advert in all the magical newspapers and see who answers the ad." Hermione says decisively," Offer to better their current salary, if needed, as incentive to win them over."

"Yes ma'am, I will get the ad out tomorrow and see what happens. Maybe we can get some students interested in NEWTS for History of Magic." He replies.

"With it being a proper class, we will be among them, when the time comes." Harry says," I've always liked history in muggle school."

Harry and Hermione leave the Headmaster's office and continue with their day. Professor Quirrell is behaving himself and teaching his class, wary of the Potters after the way his troll incident is foiled. He will have to do something soon though as he is feeling weaker and more tired every day. He needs that stone, but can't risk it as long as Dumbledore is in the castle. The days and weeks pass uneventfully until soon the Christmas Holidays are upon them.

ooOOoo


	12. Christmas

_**Chapter 12: Christmas**_

The Potters decide to take the train home, instead of phasing, to be with their friends Hannah and Susan. The friends all board the train and find a compartment together where the girls continue hours of conversation, while Harry looks out the window, bored out of his mind. He is rescued when Neville Longbottom knocks on the door.

Everyone looks up and he asks," May I join you, I'm tired of Weasley complaining about being in Slytherin."

Harry laughs and says," Sure, come on in and rescue me from all this girl talk."

The girls just stick their tongues out at Harry and continue with their talk.

Harry asks," What's up with Weasley? You'd think he would be acclimated by now."

"I'm not sure, he says nobody likes him and Draco keeps calling him a blood traitor," Neville says," I tried sitting with him to be nice, but it became unbearable."

"I don't see what the problem is. The only difference between the two is Malfoy's father has money to blow while Weasley's father has been putting six kids through school with one more to go. They may not be rich, but they do okay for themselves." Harry says.

"Apparently Ron thinks, and I quote,' everything should be handed to him and he should not have to work because he is a pureblood.'" Neville says, snickering.

Harry laughs," see, no difference."

"I'm a pureblood from a long line of purebloods and I have to earn everything I get. My gran thought I was a squib for the longest until Uncle Algie dropped me out a second story window and I bounced. Made gran so happy to find out I wasn't a squib after all."

Hermione, overhearing, gasps and says," he dropped you out a window? You must have been scared half to death."

Neville shrugs his shoulders and says," That was a long time ago. I was just happy to get my Hogwarts letter."

"So," Harry says," I've been meaning to thank you for your help in Herbology, you seem to be a natural at it."

The girls all nod in agreement and continue talking about things girls talk about when Hermione asks Hannah and Susan:

"How do you think you did on your exams?"

Susan says," I think I did well for once. I want to be an Auror like my aunt when I graduate. She's head of the DMLE now."

"I think I did okay," Hannah says," I'm not sure what I want to do yet though. My dad is a muggle doctor despite being a muggle born wizard while my mother owns an apothecary."

"Have you had any more trouble from the pure-bloods?" Hermione asks.

"Not really," she says," I'm learning to ignore them."

Hermione looks up when the door opens to reveal Malfoy and his goons.

"Speak of the devil," Hermione mutters.

"Have we learned anything yet?" she asks, looking at Draco.

Draco just looks around and sniffs," What's that smell, must be mudbloods and halfbloods. Longbottom, what are you, a pure-blood like me, doing in here with the filth? My father will hear about this."

"Apparently not," she grumbles.

Looking at Draco, Hermione says," Malfoy, what would your father say if I told him you were the reason he lost his job."

Draco's eyes widen to saucer size and he stutters," Y..you w..wouldn't do t..that would y..you. My father would k..kill me."

"I will do just that if you can't keep your big mouth shut and your bigotry to yourself." She says.

He shutters and says," I have to go."

Hermione asks," Are you that afraid of your father Draco? You need to find a way to get away from him."

"I can't," he whispers, and leaves.

Hermione turns to Harry and thinks,_" We need to find a way to help him if he asks for it."_

_"We can hint to him the help is there if he wants it,"_ Harry thinks back.

She nods her head and just as she was going to close the door again the trolley lady rumbles by.

"Anything from the trolley dears?" she asks.

They all get something from the trolley and settle in for the rest of the trip, enjoying their snacks. When they reach the outskirts of London they all change out of their school robes, with the boys guarding the door for the girls and the girls watching out for the boys. After the train stops at the platform they all get off and look around for their parents or guardians. Harry and Hermione observe as Draco walks up to his father, who grabs his arm roughly and apparates them away.

Susan and Hannah lead the Potters up to Susan's aunt and she says by way of introduction," Hello aunty, this Harry and Hermione Potter, mine and Hannah's best friends. They were sorted into Hufflepuff with us; remember I wrote you in a letter?"

"Yes I remember," she replies to Susan.

She looks at the Potters and says," I'm Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE, it's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot of good things about you two."

Harry answers," It's nice to meet you as well, Susan had told us all about you. She said she wants to be an Auror too when she graduates. I think it is a worthy goal and achievable now that the potions situation is cleared up, you should get more recruits in a few years."

"I had heard about that. Whatever you did has had a big impact on the program already. Professor Snape has offered to help the Aurors in training with their potions." she says.

"Professor Snape is a good man that just needed a little push in the right direction," Hermione says," he's very pleasant to be around now."

While they are talking Neville brings his grandmother over to meet the Potters as well.

Neville speaks up, introducing his grandmother," Lord and Lady Potter, this is my grandmother, The Dowager Lady Longbottom."

Harry and Hermione turn to Mrs. Longbottom, and with Harry taking her hand in his, gives a short bow and says," Lord and Lady Potter at your service, nice to meet you my Lady. Neville has been telling us about your charity work and how you encourage his Herbology studies. I'm not sure I could have passed my exams without his help. If we can contribute to any of your charities, let us know and we will get in touch with Ragnok to let him know it is okay."

Lady Longbottom smiles at him and says," It's nice to know some people have good manners. I'm glad Neville has made a good friend in you Lord Potter."

"I had heard that the Potters and Longbottoms have been allies for centuries, how could we not be friends with Neville? Maybe we could get together and discuss the alliance in the near future. Have a Happy Christmas." Harry says and then turns to Hermione.

"We better get going Hermione; your parents are probably wondering if we have arrived yet. It was nice to meet you Madam Bones. Bye Susan and Hannah, see you on the trip back to school. See you Neville," Harry says as he grabs his wife's hand and they walk through the barrier to meet up with her parents. Hermione immediately spots her parents and runs squealing with happiness into her mother's arms. Harry walks up calmly and gets a hug from Mr. Granger.

"How was school son?" he asks.

"Different dad," Harry says," I can tell we have our work cut out for us with the pure-blood nonsense."

Harry and Hermione swap parents and while harry gets a hug from Mrs. Granger, Hermione says," Harry was amazing dad. Just wait till we get home so we can tell you."

The Potters and Grangers climb into the Rolls after putting the trunks in the boot for the drive home. Once they arrive and have a pleasant dinner, the family retires to the sitting room for story time. Tippy pops in; startling the Grangers, serving brandy to the adults, and juice to the preteens. She bows and pops away.

"What was that?" Mr. Granger asks.

"That used to be a house elf. She is now one of my new sisters." Hermione says while looking at Harry with love in her eyes," That is one of the wonderful things Harry has done at school."

"Sisters," Her mother asks?

Harry explains," You know how we found out we own Hogwarts, right?"

The Grangers nod and Harry continues nervously," Well, when we got to school, after the sorting and just before we went to bed, we found out we also owned one hundred eighteen house elves."

"What?" Mrs. Granger yells, glaring at Harry" That is outrageous. You will set them free right this instant, you hear me?"

"That was Hermione's reaction as well," Harry says as he cringes down.

"Well?" she demands.

"Let me get Tippy to tell what we did," Harry says.

"Yes mum, let's let Tippy tell the story, she was the first elf freed from the house elf curse and bonded to me as my sister." Hermione says while snuggling up to Harry."

The Grangers nod their okay and Hermione calls out," Tippy."

Tippy pops in and asks," You called Tippy miss Hermione?"

"Yes, would you please explain to my parents what happened at Hogwarts on our first day there?" She asks.

Tippy looks at the Grangers and tells the history of the house elves and how it was Harry and Hermione who broke the curse and insisted on bonding with the elves as family instead of just friends.

"I am proud to be known as Tippy Potter," she says before popping away.

"So, the elves can't really be free like us, or they will die, but family?" Mrs. Granger asks.

"That is what Tippy said that night. She said elves have to be bonded with a wizard or witch or they lose their magic. She said it has always been that way and yes, family. We couldn't bear to own slaves, but we can live with bonding to family members. We have both wanted siblings and know we can't have any. Harry and I both know it is not your fault either but this way we get lots of siblings that are loyal to the family and will always be there for us. We may even be able to get one of them to work here. We already have a Rolls, might as well have a Butler/ Chauffeur, as they love to work. Their reward is being able to make us happy, along with receiving their magic from us." Hermione says while hugging Harry," and it is all because Harry was calm enough to find a solution, while I was as hysterical as you were just a few minutes ago."

"Well," Mr. Granger asks with a grin," What else have you two been up to?"

Hermione says while holding her finger to her chin," Let's see, we removed the dark mark from Professor Snape. He's a whole new person now and a really good teacher along with being a member of our new advisory council. We had several run-ins with the pure-blood bigots at school. We're trying to get them to change their ways, but it will take time. Harry escorted a twelve foot mountain troll home after it tried to hurt one of our friends. And, we discovered a couple of new powers.

Hermione stands up and says," We can see through things when the need arises, and we can float off the ground without needing magic to do it."

As she was talking, her and Harry slowly float up to about a foot off the floor.

"I think we could probably fly, if we tried hard enough." Harry says," It's probably the reason we are both so good on brooms."

"I am so glad we don't have to worry about you two getting hurt or into trouble at school," Mr. Granger says.

"So far, we haven't been hit by any spells yet, but don't think they will hurt us." Hermione assures her father.

Harry stretches and yawns. Hermione looks at him and says," We need to get to bed sweetheart; it has been a long day."

"Good night mum, dad." Harry says yawning again.

"Good night kids," Mrs. Granger says.

The Grangers sit up a little while longer, enjoying their brandy and each other's company before going to bed as well.

ooOOoo

The next morning Harry gets up early to make breakfast for the family and discovers an elf in the kitchen merrily cooking breakfast and humming. He notices Harry walk in and bows to him and says," Good morning Lord Potter. I heard you are looking for someone to be a driver and butler for Drs. Granger. I can drive a muggle vehicle, and with me they will always be safe. I can also use glamour's to look like a muggle butler or driver, whichever is needed."

Harry looks at the elf and says," You have just answered one of my worries. What's your name?"

"My name is Jeeves Potter my Lord." He states while turning back to breakfast so it doesn't burn.

The smell of breakfast gets everyone one up and wandering into the kitchen.

"Good morning every one, I'd like you to meet the new butler, his name is Jeeves." Harry says.

Mr. Granger looks at Harry and asks," Butler?"

"Yes, butler and chauffeur," Harry says," Hermione and I talked about this and we think you need protection. We may not be able to be harmed, but you two are vulnerable and Jeeves can keep you safe. With our abilities manifesting at an alarming rate, we sometimes don't realize we are doing something we're not supposed to be able to until someone tells us. What we **are** worried about is a death eater or terrorist trying to get to us through you. Jeeves can appear and act as a muggle when you have company here, and you can show up your friends at the club with a driver, who is also a discreet body guard. Hermione and I will feel a lot better knowing you are safe while we are away."

Mr. Granger says," What you are saying makes a lot of sense and we accept. There is service quarters attached to the garage of this old house but we didn't feel right having a servant, even if he was well paid. Thank you Harry."

"Breakfast is served Drs. Granger, Lord and Lady Potter," Jeeves announces.

"Could you call us Harry and Hermione please?" Harry asks.

"Oh, no sir," Jeeves replies," It would not be proper for the butler to be that familiar with the Lord and Lady of the house."

Harry just sighs," I keep trying but it's no use. It's always Master or Lord from the elves, despite being family now."

Hermione chuckles and says," We'll have to get used to it. It seems to be ingrained into their character."

They all have a good laugh at Harry's expense and continue with breakfast. After finishing, they retire to the sitting room to watch the telly or read the newspaper. Hermione hears a tapping at the window and goes to collect her copy of The Daily Prophet from the owl, which hoots at her and flies off, having been relieved of its burden. She walks back into the den while reading the front page.

"Anything interesting in the paper dear," Her mother asks?

"It says here that someone tried to rob Gringotts back in late August. The vault number was 713. I'm not sure why it took so long to make the paper. The goblins say nothing was stolen as the vault was emptied just that morning by the rightful key holder." Hermione reads.

"They probably wanted to do their own investigation first before reporting it to the DMLE. That was the same day we were there so they probably didn't want it to seem like anything was wrong. They have their own investigators for internal matters." Harry says." We can ask Hagrid about it when we get back, as he mentioned picking up something for the headmaster."

_"Must have been the stone,"_ Hermione thinks to Harry.

_"That makes sense, as Hagrid was very secretive about what he picked up. We'll take care of it when we get back to school"_ Harry thinks back.

"Sounds like a plan Harry," Hermione states out loud," So; who wants to go Christmas shopping?"

Mrs. Granger says," We've already bought most of your gifts, but still need a few minor things. It's very pleasant out right now. Why don't we walk to the shopping center? There is a nice one only a few blocks from here and we can take in a movie at the cinema while we are there."

Harry says," sounds good, let's go."

They find Jeeves waiting by the door with their coats and they all don them while he says," Have a pleasant day sirs and madams. Call me if you need anything."

"We will, thank you," Mr. Granger says.

They walk to the shopping center and have a pleasant day shopping. After shopping is finished they take in a movie at the cinema. After looking at the selections they decide on, "All I want for Christmas," a comedy about two New York kids who plot and scheme to get what they want for Christmas. After the movie, they stop over at a nice restaurant for a pleasant meal together afterwards.

"That was great," Harry says after finishing his meal.

Hermione says while snuggling into Harry's side," It was nice to have a family day and night out like this."

Mr. Granger says," You are right. It was so nice not to have to carry all the shopping back. That Jeeves is something else. I'm also glad we decided to walk, with the holiday traffic being what it is."

They all agree and proceed at a slow walk back towards their home enjoying the evening. Harry and Hermione are talking quietly when they hear a young girl of about three arguing with her mother from across the street. She is trying to pull loose from her mother's hand because she wants to see the Santa in the display at the store they had just passed.

All of a sudden Hermione and Harry hear a scream," Jenna!"

They look over and see the girl has broken loose from her mother and is running into the street. The way is clear on Harry and Hermione's side of the street but as they are watching, a car turns towards the little girl from a side street and is speeding up, the driver not having seen her run out in front of him. Hermione just reacts and runs across the street so fast she is a blur; she grabs the girl and turns her back to the car while crouching over her to protect her. The car hits Hermione going at least fifty kilometers per hour and is stopped dead. There is now a big U shaped dent in the car that folds around where Hermione is crouched down, like a horseshoe, with water and steam coming out from the broken radiator.

Mrs. Granger screams out," Hermione!"

Harry, being able to follow her run, could see that she was okay, so held the Grangers and everyone else back with an invisible barrier to allow the scene to play out. He and Hermione knew something like this could happen one day so he wants to see how she handles it. He doesn't know that a news crew is filming the whole scene from inside the store with the Santa display. They are there to do a holiday piece with the children when they hear the lady scream. The camera man swings his camera around and tapes the whole thing. Because of the angle, he can't get a view of Hermione's face but catches the U shaped dent in the hood of the car from above and behind before it disappears. When he tries to go out the door for a better angle and an interview, he finds the door won't open. He tapes the crowd's reaction and the aftermath. Later they would have to replay the tape a few times to confirm what they had seen. This would make an interesting fill piece for the late news.

Hermione stands up with the girl in her arms and asks," Are you alright sweetheart?"

The girl nods her head with her eyes wide open. She is frightened and shaking, asking for her mother.

Her mother comes running over in tears and says," Thank you, thank you, for saving my little girl. I just knew that car was going to hit her." Hermione looks over at the car and discreetly waves her hand, repairing the damage to the car," You're welcome ma'am. It's just a good thing the driver was able to stop in time."

The driver gets out of the car a little wobbly after the sudden stop; thinking for sure that he has just killed a young girl. He had seen a blur run in front of him but didn't know about the toddler. He is relieved when the girl stands up he sees she is all right.

He wipes his brow with a handkerchief and asks shakily," Are you alright, I just knew I had hit you. I felt the car stop suddenly, and then you stood up right in front."

He spots the toddler and her mother and nearly faints when he realizes what almost happened. He apologizes profusely to Hermione and the mother of the toddler saying," The Lord must be really watching over us tonight. I am definitely going to be in church this Sunday and on Christmas." After calming down, he shakily gets back in his car and drives off.

Hermione gives the toddler to her mother, wishes her a Happy Christmas, and then crosses the street, after looking both ways, to rejoin her family.

"You handled that real well," Harry whispers into her ear," I was wondering when something like this might happen."

"Thanks Harry. I'm glad we have magic, as it would have been hard to explain away the damage to that guy's car and why I wasn't injured." Hermione says softly so as not to be overheard by others.

The Grangers stare at Hermione with wonder and tears in their eyes after what they just witnessed. Mrs. Granger grabs onto her daughter and holds on for dear life.

"I thought you were dead. I have never been so frightened in my entire life." She says while looking her over for damage.

"I'm okay mum," she says," I'm not even hurt. Let's go home."

They proceed on up the street towards their home and when they get there Jeeves is at the door to take their coats. Hermione's mother marches her upstairs into the bedroom to make sure she is alright.

"That was amazing Harry," Mr. Granger says," If I wanted proof you two couldn't get hurt, that was it."

"We knew something like this would happen eventually. We wouldn't have been able to watch that little girl get run over by that car and not do anything." Harry says.

"Of course you couldn't," Mrs. Granger says coming down the stairs." I'm now convinced we were meant to be there at that time. We usually drive when we go shopping. There are usually too many bags to carry. I'm just thankful we walked this time."

She sits down as the adrenalin rush from being frightened wears off.

"I think a bit of brandy and I'm off to bed." She declares.

Mr. Granger says," That sounds like a wonderful idea as it is late and we have presents to wrap tomorrow. Off to bed you two, see you in the morning,"

They head off to get a good night's sleep after having had an exciting day that has worn them out.

ooOOoo

The next morning, they wake up to a wonderful aroma as Jeeves cooks breakfast. After eating, they proceed to separate rooms to wrap the gifts that were bought the day before. After that chore is completed and the gifts distributed around the tree they play a card game known as Pope Joan until it is time to break for lunch.

While eating, Hermione looks over at Harry and says," We're going to have to be careful with our abilities in the muggle world. In the magical world, we can explain away most of what we can do as magic. I had to send a magical pulse through the street cameras to make sure the recording tapes were erased. The only mystery they will have is the tapes being erased. We don't want the government to find out what we can do."

"I agree, but unless we want to stay in the house all of the time, we are going to occasionally run across situations like yesterday where our instincts will make us do something like you did." Harry said.

"I know Harry," Hermione says while thinking," We could try disillusioning ourselves to keep from being recognized."

Harry says," Dora can change her appearance at will. I wonder if we can do that."

"She is a metamorphmagus and was born with the ability, but we could probably use glamour charms to change our appearance. We need to pick one for this need only, so we appear the same every time and if cameras pick us up the government will have no record of us to find." she says.

To demonstrate, she changes into a blond woman of indeterminate age with short hair just below her ears. She stands about five foot ten inches and has the build of a very fit woman. She has on a formfitting black outfit that zips up to her neck and looks like black dragonhide. Over that she wears a hooded cloak in black with yellow gold trim with a stylized P on the upper left, just above where a pocket would be. With her hood up, her face can be hidden in shadow. Her voice is a little more feminine and melodic. On her feet, she has black boots with a wide one and a half inch heel. The outfit will fit into the magic or muggle worlds as the cloak will pass for wizard robes or muggle outer wear.

Harry looks at her and says," Wow, Hermione that looks awesome; hold on a minute."

He also changes into a blond haired man of indeterminate age, standing six foot two inches with a black dragonhide suit like hers only styled for a man. His cloak is the same as Hermione's, except in a man's style with black combat boots on his feet. The Grangers look amazed at the change in the two Potters, and Mr. Granger comments:

"You two look amazing. You remind me of Sherlock Holmes or maybe the James Bond from the sixties, the way you are dressed."

"I was actually thinking of the Avengers and Emma Peel. I decided to use our house colors and the P stands for Pantheras, which means Hunter. The outfits will fit in, no matter where we are. Hopefully, we won't need them anytime soon." Hermione says," but this will establish an identity if necessary."

The family spends the rest of the day finishing out their card game and watching the telly. The newscaster is saying there might be the possibility for snow this Christmas if conditions are just right.

"That would be nice," Mrs. Granger comments," It's been awhile since we had snow on Christmas day.

They don't get any snow, but the weather stays nice and there are no more accidents or other incidents leading up to Christmas. After a restless Christmas Eve night, due to the excitement of presents in the morning, (they are children after all), Harry and Hermione proceed down the stairs to the sitting room where the tree is and patiently wait for the Granger's to come down. While they are waiting, Harry looks out the window and spots a car pulling into the driveway.

"Hermione," Harry asks," Who is that pulling into the driveway?"

She looks out the window and squeals with a big smile on her face.

"That's my grandmother; she hasn't been to visit since I was real little because she lives so far away." She says," we try to see her when we can, but with busy schedules for the last few years, there aren't enough free days to get away while we are home from school."

Hermione and Harry rush up to their room to get out of their pajamas while Jeeves opens the door, in his butler persona, for Mrs. Granger's mother. He takes her coat and asks her to wait in the entrance area while he announces her. He walks up the stairs to inform the Grangers they have company. Hermione runs down the stairs to greet her grandmother with an enthusiastic hug, while Harry follows at a more sedate pace with the Grangers right behind him.

"Hi Gran," Hermione says rapidly," I've missed you. Did you just get in? Did you fly? Why didn't you call us, we would have come and picked you up."

She just laughs and says," slow down Hermione, "I stayed in a hotel and drove the rest of the way in this morning. Now, where is this young man I have been hearing so much about?"

Hermione beckons to Harry and he walks over.

"Harry, this is my grandmother, Mrs. Richardson, we just call her gran," She says by way of introduction," Gran, this is Harry Potter, my hus, um, friend."

She looks at Harry with a raised eyebrow and Mrs. Granger clears her throat before anything awkward is said and says," Hi mum. What brings you over so unexpected? We could have arranged everything for you if we had known you wanted to come."

Mrs. Richardson looks at her daughter and says," Hello Helen, I take it you didn't see the news."

"We watch the news pretty regular, but we don't watch the same channel as you, so what did we miss?" She asks.

Hermione's Gran looks at her and asks," Why didn't you tell me you were a witch."

Hermione and Harry both stiffen up looking at her while Hermione asks nervously," What makes you think I am a witch?"

She looks at Hermione and reaches into her purse and pulls out a video tape saying," I like to record the news in case I miss something."

She looks at Mr. Granger while handing him the tape and says," George, would you play this please."

Mr. Granger takes the tape and inserts it into the VCR and they sit back to watch the recording. There on the screen is the whole accident scene including the dent in the car. It showed someone stand up from in front of the car and wave their hand slightly, repairing the damage to the car. You couldn't make out who the person was but when the camera panned the bystanders, the Granger's and Harry are shown on the screen.

Mrs. Richardson says," I couldn't make out who was in front of the car, but figured it out when I saw the expression on your face Helen, along with the fact that Hermione wasn't in the crowd with you. Only a witch could have survived like that and then repair the damaged car in that manner. She must have put up some kind of shield to stop the car like that."

"It wasn't a shield gran and I can't tell you anymore until you explain how that scene equates with me being a witch." Hermione states seriously.

Her grandmother looks at her and says," My grandmother was a witch. It runs in the family on my side. I am a squib, and when your mother didn't manifest any magic either, I had given up hope and didn't tell her about magic, because there seemed to be no need. Squibs are looked down upon in the magical world and I wanted to spare her the burden. We are descended from Rowena Ravenclaw from my mother's side and yes, I know about Hogwarts and the Founders."

"I also know about our magical ancestry," Hermione says," I found out last summer that I am descended from Rowena Ravenclaw from mum's side and Salazar Slytherin through dad's side."

She shows her grandmother the rings and continues," I wish you had told me this a long time ago. I have known I was magical from the day I was born. We could have had lots of things to talk about."

"I'm glad the magic didn't skip you Hermione. I was beginning to think it had died out altogether." Gran says.

Hermione looks at Gran with a serious expression, then states," I have one more important question to ask you. Your answer will determine how much more I can tell you."

Gran replies," go ahead and ask,"

"Do you know what a soul bond is and do you believe they are possible?" Hermione asks.

Her grandmother now looks at her with understanding," That little slip earlier is what this is about. Isn't it?"

At Hermione's nod she continues," A soul bond is a match made in heaven and yes I believe it is possible. Why ask such a question, unless..." She breaks off looking at Harry.

"Yes Gran," Hermione says," Harry is my soul mate and we initialized our bond at eight years of age with a kiss. The bond finalized when we put our wedding rings on and kissed last summer on Harry's birthday. We were at Gringotts speaking to Ragnok, the leader of the goblins, when it happened. There were lights with heavenly music and then Hedwig came into our lives. My last name is really Potter."

As she says that last part, Hedwig flashes into the room and starts trilling a beautiful song, filling everyone's heart with love. She flies around the room and lands on Hermione's shoulder.

"Welcome to the family Harry," Mrs. Richardson says, marveling at the phoenix," Please call me Gran."

"Thank you Gran," Harry says grinning as he walks up to her and hugs her.

"That makes things a bit easier. How much did great-grandmother tell you?" Hermione asks.

"She told me stories and gave me a lot of magical history books to read in the hope I could pass the knowledge down someday," Gran answers.

"Now that you have told me you know about the Founders, I feel safer asking the next part; did the history books mention anything about Elders?" Hermione asks.

Gran gasps and says," I thought the Elders were only a legend."

Hermione looks at Harry and says," Well, Harry is the heir to the other two founders, meaning we own Hogwarts; also, Harry is a Lord, and I am his Lady."

Harry looks at her with love in his eyes and says softly," Together forever."

She looks back at him with love while snuggling up to him and says softly," Together forever."

Gran looks at Harry with approval while the Grangers look on with pride.

Gran asks," You were going to say something else Hermione? By the way, I approve of you Harry; you make a good match for Hermione."

"I was going to say that what you saw on the telly has nothing to do with magic; except for repairing that man's car." Hermione says while Gran has a look of disbelief on her face." A shield charm of any kind will not stop a solid object unless it was made by magic. The shield will either reflect the light from a spell or will cancel the magic that created the solid object. It will not stop anything man-made like a bullet or a car. Voldemort could have been killed by a gun a long time ago, before he got powerful, except the pure-bloods think muggles are dumb animals that don't know anything and don't pay attention to the muggle world as they should. The pure-bloods are the reason we are still in the Victorian era with ink, quills and parchment, instead of modern pens and stationary."

"But what does this have to do with Elders?" Gran asks.

"Sorry for the long explanation, but I wanted to make sure you understood what I am about to tell you," Hermione explains," The most important thing to know about Harry and I and why we can do the things we can do is that we are both Elders and thanks to a Prophesy from the Creator about us, we are immortal. We cannot be killed. The reason for the car stopping suddenly and the big U shaped indentation in the car is because it did hit me. I was protecting that little girl but arrived to her just as the car got there and I only had time to turn my back to the car before it hit. We got most of our DNA from another planet, so while Harry and I were born on Earth, of Earth parents, we are actually hybrids with DNA from both planets. We have special powers because of this that allowed me save that little girl."

"That was an amazing thing you did," Gran says," After hearing and seeing what I have seen, I firmly believe you were sent here for a great purpose, whether from this Creator you talk about or God I don't know, but know that I love you just the same no matter what."

Harry says," Hermione and I think that the one God from all of the Earth's religions and the Creator are the same being. The Creator just is. He has always been with us and always will be. He has given us these powers and we are doing our best to learn to use them wisely. Our long term purpose is to unite this planet and bring it into the Intergalactic Community of Planets, which will take some time. That, we believe, is why we are immortal."

"Jeeves," Hermione calls out.

Jeeves walks in and bows to Hermione and asks," You called madam?"

"Yes, this is my grandmother and she is a squib. She knows about the magical world and now knows our secret. Do you think one of the Potter elves will volunteer to stay with her?" She asks.

"Yes, I believe Giles was hoping for a position similar to mine. He can also drive and will be happy to take care of Mrs. Richardson." Jeeves says while reverting back to his natural form.

Gran says in protest," But I don't want or need a servant."

"Gran, Jeeves and Giles are elves. They use to be house elves until we freed them and re-bonded as family. You need protection, especially if the government notices that news story and puts two and two together. Giles will put up elf wards around your house to detect intruders and can get you to safety in the blink of an eye. Harry and I will sleep better at night knowing you are safe." Hermione pleads.

"All right Hermione, if it will make you sleep easier I will accept the offer."

"Thank you Gran, you won't regret your decision. You might even get a little spoiled. The elves are wonderful friends." Hermione says.

Harry and Hermione have been glancing repeatedly over at the tree throughout all of this discussion and it did not go unnoticed by the parents or grandmother.

"Let's open presents," Mrs. Granger declares.

"Yay," the kids yell and run over to the tree to hand out gifts. Harry and Hermione get several gifts from their parents consisting of new clothes along with new bicycles for each of them. They made sure the bikes came with safety helmets and knee pads, even though they weren't needed, they had to keep up appearances. Harry got each one a watch that the watchmaker said would act as a port key to safety once the destinations were set and besides keeping time, it had a place for up to six hands for keeping track of family. The settings for these hands were as follows: Work, Traveling, Home, School, and Mortal Peril. There is also an alarm for any time a hand reads Mortal Peril. Harry waves his hand over the watches and five faces appear. Four showed Home while the one for Gran said traveling.

Harry looks over at Gran and says," I didn't know you were coming, so I will get you a watch with the same features. This way you can keep track of your family. The watchmaker says he can make a larger clock for a mantel or grandfather clock if preferred. If you are in peril, and Giles can't get you out for some reason, Hermione and I will come as quickly as we can."

"Thank you Harry, I think Giles will be enough, but it is a good feeling knowing you two can come if needed." Gran says.

After the gifts are opened and the mess cleaned up, Jeeves announces breakfast. The rest of the holiday goes well and after a few days Gran returns home with Giles driving so he will know where she lives. After this initial trip he can just pop her over for a visit whenever she wants to come. This makes her very happy as she can now see her family more often. On New Year's Eve, the Grangers allow the Potters each a small cup of eggnog to celebrate. When the clock strikes twelve, the men each give their brides a kiss to bring in the New Year. The rest of the holiday passes pleasantly and before long it is time to board the Hogwarts Express for the trip back to school.

ooOOoo


	13. Back to School and the First Mission

Chapter 13 Back to School and the first Mission

Harry and Hermione arrive at the platform and board the train with plenty of time to spare. They find an empty compartment and make themselves comfortable while waiting on their friends to show. Neville is the first to arrive and greet Harry and Hermione.

"How was your holiday, guys? Except for presents, mine was pretty boring. I at least got some new plants for my greenhouse."

"We had an interesting holiday. I got to see my Gran, whom I haven't seen since I was little. Let's wait until Hannah and Susan get here and I will tell you all about it." Hermione says.

A few minutes later Hannah and Susan walk in and sit down after Harry and Neville help them put their trunks in the overhead.

Susan asks," How was your holiday? There was some excitement on the telly while I was over at Hannah's visiting. There was a car accident involving a girl that everyone was sure had been hit. When she stood up in front of that car, we were all relieved. The funny thing is I could have sworn there was a dent in the front part of the car that just went away. I mean the top part was bent up and everything. It's like someone used magic to fix it. The picture moved around and I saw you, Harry, with some other people. Were those your parents Hermione? I didn't see you anywhere in the picture unless…. **You're the girl that was standing in front of the car**."

Hermione waves her hands in a downward motion," shhh, not so loud, Yes that was me. I wonder how many other muggleborns saw that. We're in so much trouble Harry."

Harry says," I wouldn't worry about it. Most people will just think it was a glitch in the tape since there is no proof anything was wrong. Apparently the man was able to stop in time; after all he drove off afterwards. No wand was seen in use so there is no proof magic was used in any way."

"You're probably right Harry; most muggles will just explain it away in the manner you described. It's easier to believe a glitch in the tape than the alternative," Hannah says," how was the rest of your holiday Hermione?"

"My grandmother came to visit and asked me why I didn't tell her I was a witch. I asked her to explain why she would ask such a question and she said she figured it out after she saw the news clip. She said only a witch could have done what she saw, and then she went on and explained that her Grandmother was a witch. I knew I was magical from the day I was born, but just found out this summer that both my parents are from magical lines all the way back to the Founders. Magic just skipped a couple of generations for some reason. That is why Harry and I own Hogwarts. We are the Founders heirs the hat mentioned in its song."

"That is so cool Hermione," Susan says smiling," It's nice to have friends in high places."

"Well, your aunt is pretty high up herself and I bet you have your own problems with that don't you." Hermione says.

"Yea, I know what you mean," she answers," my aunt keeps being approached by other pure-blood families hoping to arrange a marriage contract with her for me, just because she is the head of the DMLE."

Hermione gasps and says," I hope she is not going to do that."

"No," Susan assures her," my aunt, being a woman, doesn't believe in marriage contracts and wants me to marry for love."

"Thank Merlin," Hermione says in relief," Harry and I hope to put a stop to this contract business eventually. It is killing off the magic in all of the old families that still believe in this rubbish due to the inbreeding that is occurring; just to keep the blood lines pure."

"I wish you luck there," Hannah says," my parents don't believe in that either. That's why my dad left the magical world and became a doctor. Most wizards and witches don't know he isn't a muggle and that I am really a pure-blood."

"That's alright Hannah," Hermione says," They all think I'm a muggle born and if I'm not worried about it, you shouldn't either."

"I'm not anymore," she says," you and Harry have been a big help there. I've learned to ignore the stuck up pure-bloods and not let what they say bother me."

While the girls continued talking Harry tunes them out and turns to Neville.

"Are you okay with us owning Hogwarts Neville," Harry asks?

Neville replies," why wouldn't I be, you're still just Harry and Hermione to me? Our group all comes from old families and each has businesses we either own or have interests in. My Gran keeps pushing me to learn everything I can about the families so I will be ready when I become Lord Longbottom at my majority."

"I'm glad to hear you say that Neville," Harry says relieved," I hate my fame and want to be just Harry instead of 'The Boy Who Lived.' It's nice to have real friends outside the family like I have with you and the girls."

"No worries mate," Neville says smiling.

The girls look over at Harry and smile at him and declare," We are The Hufflepuff Badgers. We are invincible." They all laugh, having a good time as the trip continues.

The trolley lady comes by and they buy a few sweets to go with the lunch basket Hermione brought for the group. After finishing lunch Harry and Hermione and the girls all take out a school book each so they can read ahead for classes. Neville pulls out the new Herbology book he got for Christmas and they all settle down for the rest of the trip. When the train nears Hogsmead they take turns using the compartment to change into school robes and after arriving at the station they all climb aboard a carriage and ride it up to the castle anticipating the feast.

As everyone settles in Professor Dumbledore walks up to the new lectern and steps on it to rise up a foot or so allowing everyone to see him. The room quiets down and he says:

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, everyone that visited their families, welcome to the New Year. I trust your brains emptied out while you were gone so we can fill them back up with knowledge and wisdom. Without further ado, let the Feast Begin."

He claps his hands twice causing the food to appear on the tables and everyone digs in. After a sumptuous meal, the students retire to their common rooms to get reacquainted with their friends while talking more about the holidays, and then finally drift off to their beds anticipating the start of classes the next day.

A few days after their return, Harry and Hermione are walking down to the dungeons for potions when they notice Draco Malfoy coming from the other direction walking slowly with a slight limp looking down at the floor. They look at each other and then approach Draco.

"Draco, what's wrong, did you get into a fight again," Hermione asks?

He looks up at them and nervously says," No, I was in a bad broom accident over the holidays."

"You look like you need to see madam Pomfrey" Harry says," I thought the healers could fix just about anything. It must have been pretty bad for you to still be limping."

Draco looks around and motions them into a nearby room and whispers," Please help me. My dad has mum imprisoned in her room and beats me to get her to obey him. I'm desperate, I'm afraid he's going to hurt **her** next. I know you spend a lot of time with the Headmaster. Could you see if he can help me?"

Harry casts some privacy charms so they won't be overheard and says," You don't sound like your usual self Draco."

"I listened to what you said at the beginning of the year and I asked my mother about what you said about blood not having anything to do with magical power and she agrees that you are right. She told me to be careful around my father though, and not let him know what you said. My mother has always been nice to me, unlike my father. He expects me to be just like him and gets real mad at me when I slip and act nice, like my mother.

"Have you talked to Professor Snape?" Harry asks," He's your head of house."

"Professor Snape is my godfather, but my father saw that he no longer has the dark mark and won't let him come over any more." Draco says." He calls him a blood traitor now."

"That's just stupid," Hermione huffs," He's still your godfather and I'm sure he loves you."

"He does," Draco says," He helps with the older Sytherins, but he can't help me at home."

"Did something happen at home, Draco," Hermione asks," Is that the real reason you are limping?"

"Yes," Draco says grimacing with pain," Some of the older Slytherins are loyal to my dad and tell him everything that goes on here at school. They heard about you and Hermione beating me and the other Slytherins in the hallway that day and told him all about how we were defeated by a mudblood and a halfblood. He used his wand on me for the first time and it was like my skin was burning off. My mother threatened to leave my father when she saw him do that. He just beat me some more and told her he would take it out on me if she said anything. I knew then for sure I wanted to not be like him and be more like my mother. I've been putting on an act for the older boys, so they will have nothing to tell my father to keep mother safe, but it is not working. Please help me if you can."

Hermione looks at Harry and says to Draco," Harry and I decided we would help you if you asked, after what you said on the train. We will talk to Professor Snape and see if he can take you and your mother in if there is a way to get you and her away from him, but it might take a while."

"Thanks, if you can do this you will have a friend for life," Draco swore. He glowed for a few seconds as the oath took effect.

Harry and Hermione shook Draco's hand and said," We will do our best; just try not to get caught out by the other boys and we always have room for more friends."

Harry checks the hallway and motions for Draco that the hall is clear so he can continue on his way. Harry and Hermione leave the room to go to potions class and after a productive lesson they walked up to Professor Snape's desk.

"May we talk to you Professor?" Harry asks.

"What can I do for you Mr. Potter?" he asks.

"We ran across Draco limping down the hallway while on the way here and we talked to him about it." Hermione says," He told us he was being beat up by the older boys in Slytherin and also his father has been using his wand on him."

The professor stands up with anger on his face," I've been trying to protect him from the boys here at school, but I didn't know his father was torturing him."

"That's what we were afraid he was talking about when he said his skin felt like it was on fire after his father used his wand on him." Harry says," Draco says you are his godfather. Is this true, and would you be able to protect him and his mother if we could get them away from him?"

"I am his godfather and yes, I could protect them once they are away from Lucius." Professor Snape says," but how could you do what I have been trying to do for several months now?"

Harry and Hermione smile and morph into their alternate forms of the blond haired duo. Professor Snape just stares at them amazed and then smiles, knowing what they were capable of.

"We found out we could do this after practicing a little. It's a lot better than glamour charms which could be seen through," Harry says," Now, back to our problem. We thought the direct approach would be best because it will send out a message to the other death eaters. We will just kick the door in and take Mrs. Malfoy and bring her here to your office. From there it will be up to you. If you could show us where Draco lives we will take care of it this evening. Mr. Malfoy will think someone kidnapped his wife for ransom money as we will make it seem like we are terrorists working for a foreign faction. We will have our hoods up where he can't see our faces and make sure our voices are disguised."

Professor Snape asks harry to look into his eyes and he will implant a memory showing where Draco lives.

Harry complies and says after a few seconds," Got it. This won't take long and we will go right after dinner. Just make sure your office is clear for our return. You might want to bring Draco there after giving us a little time."

Professor Snape nods affirmative and the Potters head off to their next class. Once classes are over for the day Harry and Hermione head to the Great Hall for dinner. After eating, they glance up at Professor Snape and nod, walking slowly out of the Great Hall hand in hand to wander outside for a walk around the lake. Harry and Hermione are not really affected by the cold but still wear heavy coats for appearance sake. There are not very many souls willing to brave the cold of early evening this time of year, so they have the lake walk to themselves.

Once they were far enough from the castle Harry looks at Hermione and says to her, "Ready Huntress?"

She looks back at him and says," Ready Hunter."

They morph into their alter egos and vanish.

They reappear in front of a large white building with a marble like finish that has a tall hedge around the perimeter and an immaculate lawn.

With their hoods up, Hunter and Huntress reach their hands out in front of them, coming into contact with the wards. The wards are a shield over the whole property and start glowing, getting brighter and redder as they try to keep the intruders out. Soon, there is a big red dome over the property that starts pulsing until a loud noise is heard from inside the house as the ward stone explodes; the couple then proceeds to push open the gates for the walk up to the front door. As they approach the door a single house elf appears. He is dressed very poorly and looks bruised all over. He sees who the intruders are and bows.

"Yous is the Elders, what yous wants here," he asks?

"Whose elf are you, do you willingly serve the master of the house?" Huntress demands.

"I's came withs Mistress Black whens she was forced to marrys the bad Master of the house," He responds with reverence for the elders.

"Go to Hogwarts and wait in Professor Snape's office," Hunter says," we will bring the mistress shortly." The elf bows and pops away.

Hunter and Huntress walk up to the door and with one wave of Hunter's hand the door explodes into a million tiny fragments. They walk into the main living area and see the elder Malfoy hiding behind a statue with his wand out.

_"I'll handle this one,"_ Hunter thinks to his wife,_" you see if you can find Draco's mother."_

Huntress nods to her husband and just as she gets ready to separate from him for the search she hears," Avada Kedavra!" and watches as a green light speeds towards them.

ooOOoo

Earlier in the evening

Lucius Malfoy is enjoying another glass of fire whiskey as he tortures his wife. He's already had quite a few.

"Why can't you leave Draco to me to teach proper pure-blood ways? It seems I have to beat it into him to get him to understand, thanks to you."

He casts another cruciatus curse at her, enjoying hearing her scream.

"Going against my wishes will you. This will teach you who is head of this house." And he repeats the curse, holding it until he hears a loud wailing sound.

The intruder alarms are going off and after a few minutes the wailing gets louder and he feels a deep vibration within the house until there was a loud explosion from the ward room.

Lucius calls out," Dobby."

A small poorly dressed and bruised house elf appears and bows," Yous called master?"

Lucius kicks the elf towards the door and says," See who is outside, the alarms have been tripped."

He squeaks," yes master," and pops away to the front walk.

"Get back up your room while I take care of the intruders," he snarls at his wife.

She shakily gets up from the floor and starts to wobble towards her room when he kicks her from behind knocking her down again.

"Hurry up," he sneers drunkedly," I want to get rid of whoever set the alarm off, so I can get back to having fun."

She gets up again and avoids another kick as she moves up the stairs to her room.

After his wife goes up the stairs and a few minutes have passed with nothing happening he calls to Dobby again for a report:

"Dobby!"

Nothing. The elf is not answering.

_"Must be dead,"_ Lucius thinks.

Lucius is scared now, especially after the ward stone exploded, so he picks a sturdy marble statue to hide behind and watches the door. He doesn't have long to wait as the door explodes into tiny fragments and reveals two hooded strangers standing there. He watches as they move into the main living area and Lucius pulls out his wand.

"_They're not even bothering to hide and don't have wands out,"_ he thinks to himself with satisfaction,_" This won't take long."_

He aims his wand at the intruders and snarls out," Avada Kedavra!"

A green light pulses out of his wand toward the hooded figure on the right and it holds up its right hand and catches the curse, holding it there. Lucius cannot believe his eyes, the figure just stands there with the death curse hovering above its hand, glowing and swirling an angry dark green. He fires three more as quickly as he could get the words out with the same results, except now there are four balls of angry green light hovering.

Hunter catches the first curse and is allowing it to hover just above his hand when three more come at him. He stops those as well and with the four dark green balls hovering and swirling in front of him he turns to his wife and asks:

"What should I do with these dear?"

Huntress looks at the swirling balls of green light and says," You better dissipate them dear. We don't want anyone to get hurt now do we?"

He flicks his wrist the four swirling angry death curses fade away, dissipating into nothingness.

Pure-blood supremacist, Voldemorts right hand man, Lucius Malfoy, wets his pants and faints.

Hunter looks over at Malfoy Sr. and says," Brave one, he is."

Huntress says," Tie him up and leave a note to make it look like a kidnapping. I doubt he will even consider paying a ransom. He'll probably just try to buy himself another wife."

Hunter leaves a note tied to Lucius stating they have taken his wife in the name of Panthera's Army in protest of the Marriage contract law and if he wants her back, he will have to pay back her ransom and have the law repealed. Of course the Hunters know he will do no such thing.

They notice a trail of blood on the floor and follow it up the stairs to Narcissa Malfoy's room. Hunter and Huntress enter her room to find her passed out on the bed. Huntress then gets a wet cloth from the bathroom and starts to gently clean her wounds. Narcissa comes around groggily and is startled to find two strangers in her room. She is frightened of them and tries to get away from them by backing into a corner with her hands over her head.

"It's alright," Huntress says," we're here to take you to Hogwarts, where Draco is, and permanently away from here if that is what you want. Severus Snape has agreed to protect you and Draco from Lucius and to provide a place for you to stay while you get your dowry back for breach of contract. I'm sure those contracts don't give your husband leave to torture you, giving you plenty of legal reasons to get your gold back. Pack whatever you want from this place and we will leave as soon as you are ready.

"Who are you and why would you do this?" Narcissa asks as she packs her things.

"We call ourselves Pantheras, which means hunter. My name is Huntress while my husband's name is Hunter. We like to think of ourselves as Hunters of Justice. We are friends to someone who knows of Draco's plight and asked us to help." Huntress says." You ready to go?"

Narcissa nods after shrinking her trunk and putting it in her pocket, then Hunter and Huntress each grab one arm and they phase out of Malfoy Manor and phase back in, in Professor Snape's office. As soon as they let go of Narcissa's arms they phase back out again to the walk around the lake where they morph back into Harry and Hermione. They look at each other and kiss passionately.

"That was for a successful first mission." They say in unison, laughing and kissing again,

"Let's go check on Draco." Harry suggests.

Harry and Hermione hold hands and work their way through the snow back up to the castle.

Meanwhile, Professor Snape leads Draco into his office just as Hunter and Huntress phase out, leaving Narcissa behind. She notices Severus and Draco walk in and rushes over to hug Draco crying with joy all the way.

Draco says with tears in his eyes," I'm glad to see you too mum, How'd you get here? Are you going to stay?"

"Yes I'm going to stay. We are finally away from your father. I just have to file for divorce to get my dowry back for breach of contract and we will be just fine for gold. Then we can get a nice place to live." She says," The Pantheras' rescued me. Hunter and Huntress said they were friends with someone that knew of our problem and agreed to help us."

"Must have been the Potters, they were the only ones who knew, besides Uncle Severus, about our problem." Draco says," I thought they would get the headmaster to do something, but I guess they knew someone else better. I only told them this morning."

Just then a knock on the door alerts the occupants of the room to someone requesting entry and Severus opens the door to reveal Harry and Hermione standing there holding hands.

"We came to check on Draco and see if our friends were successful," Harry says.

He looks over at Narcissa and says," You must be Draco's mum. We're glad to meet you and see that you are ok. Draco was afraid you might be hurt by your husband, so we got in contact with the Hunters right away to see if they could help you."

"I thought their last name was Pantheras," Narcissa says.

"No, Hunter is their last name; Pantheras is what they call their two person partnership, which means Hunter. That's why they have a P on their cloaks and uniforms. They call each other Hunter and Huntress; I have no idea what their real first names are." Harry says with his fingers crossed behind his back.

"Well, whatever their real names are, I am grateful for what they have done for Draco and me." Narcissa says, then looks at Draco," I hope you don't mind being Draco Black. As soon as I can get the parchment work through I'm getting my old name back."

"It's alright with me mum. I never want to be a Malfoy again after what father did to us," Draco says, then turns to Harry and Hermione," I meant what I said earlier today, friends for life." He reaches out and shakes both of their hands.

Hermione says," Harry and I were sure something was wrong and didn't really think you were as dumb as you were acting, good job by the way. We are just glad you two are ok now and we are always happy to make new friends. Since the excitement is over, we better go and finish our homework. Good night Draco."

Professor Snape walks with them out to the hallway.

"Thank you for rescuing my godson and his mother." He says.

"We are all part of a team," Harry says," This is one of the reasons for the council. If a mission needs to be run that can't be handled through normal means, we can call on the Hunters within reason. We will not take a life if there is any alternative and we are hoping to save Professor Quirrells life, when the time comes. Good night Professor."

"Goodnight Mr. and Mrs. Potter." He says, and then returns to his office to make arrangements for Draco and his mother.

The Potters proceed down the hall towards the Hufflepuff common room where they finish their homework and go to bed for a good night's rest after the day's activities.

ooOOoo

The next morning at breakfast the owls fly in delivering the mail which includes the current copy of the Daily Prophet newspaper. Everyone in the great hall is reading the newspaper with great interest.

_Break In at Malfoy Manor_

_By: Jess Williams_

_Sometime around eight pm last night two unknown assailants claiming to be from Pantheras Army apparently took down the formidable wards around the mansion with relative ease, causing the ward stone to explode, leaving the mansion unprotected. They then gained entry by exploding the front door and after tying up Mr. Malfoy, abducted Mrs. Malfoy, and left a ransom note saying she would die if the marriage betrothal contracts were not voted out of law, claiming the contracts were causing pureblood inbreeding and depleting the magic from the pure-blood families of Britain._

_Mr. Malfoy had this to say about his experience:_

_"My wife and I were sitting in the lounge with a nice glass of wine and having a pleasant conversation when we heard the wailing noise from the alarms go off. There was a loud pulsing noise and the ward stone exploded. I sent my wife upstairs to safety while I went to investigate. I sent our house elf to determine who had set off the alarm and when he didn't return I got worried. The front door exploded and everything went black. The next thing I remember is I'm tied up in ropes and helpless. The two assailants were hooded so I couldn't see who they were. They left me tied up and went looking for my wife after leaving a ransom note. I never saw them leave and I have never been so frightened for mine and my wife's life. She means the world to me and I mean to get her back if I can. I will be going to Hogwarts to reassure my son Draco that I will do everything in my power to get his mother back from these hoodlums."_

_When asked about the betrothal contracts causing this problem Minister Fudge had this to say:_

_"Total rubbish. Betrothal contracts have been law for centuries and there is no proof of any detrimental effects."_

_He went on to say that the Malfoys were upstanding citizens and he would help out with the Auror department to help find the perpetrators._

_For more details on the break in see pg. 8_

_For more about betrothal contracts see pg. 9_

The hall was abuzz with the exciting news about the break in and was looking over at Draco with sympathy about what happened to his mother. Draco was sitting at his table embarrassed by all the attention while trying to look scared for his mother's abduction. He got a few pats on the back for reassurance from his fellow Slytherins as they were leaving breakfast for their classes while the Potters walk over to offer their assurances as well.

Harry leans over and whispers into Draco's ear," Your father cannot get into the castle so don't worry. Hermione and I will take care of him if he shows up."

Draco nods his thanks and gets up to leave the hall.

At Malfoy Manor, Lucius Malfoy is trying to floo to Hogwarts to get his son and finds his floo will not connect. He contacts his friend, Minister Fudge, and asks him if the floo network is down to Hogwarts and is assured everything is ok from his end. He decides to floo to Hogsmead and walk from there. As he approaches the gates of Hogwarts he notices his arm start to throb and ache as he rings the bell.

Hagrid walks up to the gate to see who rang the bell and spots Mr. Malfoy and asks," Can I help you Mr. Malfoy sir. Why are you walking?"

"The floo won't work from my house to here and I came to see my son." He responds.

Hagrid nods and proceeds to open the gate. When Mr. Malfoy tries to walk in the pain in his arm suddenly gets excruciating and he has to back up.

"What's wrong?" Hagrid asks.

"I don't know. The wards won't let me pass for some reason. I've never had trouble before." He says.

"Let me get the Headmaster for you," Hagrid says and walks off to do that.

"Fine," He mumbles seething inside at the inconvenience.

Hagrid walks to the Headmaster's office and informs him Mr. Malfoy wants to see his son but the wards won't let him in. The Headmaster calls Draco, along with Harry and Hermione to his office.

When they arrive, Professor Dumbledore looks at Draco and says," Your father is at the gate wanting to see you, but the wards won't let him in. I know what really happened the other night so you have nothing to worry about. Your father doesn't know what actually happened and thinks your mother was abducted just like the ransom note says. As long as you stay inside the wards you will be safe from him. Now let's all go out and talk to him to assure him how safe you are here."

All four make their way to the gate to talk to Mr. Malfoy.

When they arrive and Mr. Malfoy sees the Potters with them he asks," What are they doing here? I came to see Draco and the wards won't let me in."

Professor Dumbledore answers," They control the wards to the school since they own it."

"I see," He says," So what Draco said was true?"

Harry answers," Yes, we own the school and you are listed on our advisory board as a member with a salary, effectively making us your boss. The wards have recently been upgraded back to the founders original specifications with some added extras for today's age. No one with a dark mark or malicious intent can get into the school, which makes it one of the safest places for our students to be. Draco is perfectly safe as long as he stays within the wards so you don't have to worry about those abductors trying to get to him here. Now as to why you can't get past the wards is because you were a former Death Eater and still have the dark mark."

"How would you know that," He asks?

"Professor Snape is Draco's godfather and told us you recruited him in the last war to your side. He has repented and had his mark removed by myself and Hermione. All wars have soldiers on both sides and if you have truly repented your ways and love your family then we can do the same for you. When we removed the dark mark from Professor Snape we discovered that Voldemort is still leaching magic from the mark somehow and causing him to hate everyone, meaning he is still out there somewhere. You have to decide. If you are not sincere, your magic will know and demand a price." Harry explains.

"Very well, I understand now and agree Draco is safer here than anywhere else." Mr. Malfoy says then turns to his son.

"How are you son? I'm sure we will get your mother back soon."

"I'm fine father. Thank you for coming to see me." He responds, "I hope you can find who did this."

"We will son," he says while turning back to the Potters," I will think about your proposition and get back to you."

He then turns around and walks off back to Hogmeade for the trip home.

"Do you think we planted a seed today?" Hermione asks Harry.

"I don't know. Some people are truly evil and can't be changed. We will have to wait and see." He answers.

Professor Dumbledore says," I appreciate you giving him the chance, but he was Voldemort's right hand man and I don't think he will change until the dark lord is dead."

"Then he will probably die with Voldemort as they are linked through that mark, like all of the Death Eaters. Voldemort will draw magic from all of his followers trying to stay alive, killing them as well." Hermione says.

They all walk back up to the castle and go their separate ways.

ooOOoo


	14. A Strange Mirror and Hagrid Gets an Egg

_**Chapter 14: A Strange Mirror, and Hagrid gets an Egg**_

Harry is having a restless evening a few weeks later and leaves Hermione asleep in bed while deciding to take a stroll through the castle. He disillusions himself since it was after curfew and doesn't want to disturb anyone, especially the caretaker, Mr. Filch. The caretaker has a most annoying cat named Mrs. Norris, who has an uncanny sense for when students were where they shouldn't be. Harry is quietly walking down a hallway he hadn't been down before, when he notices a large mirror in an unused class room. He decides to go in and have a look. The mirror is about six feet tall and mounted on an elaborate stand with words along the top: _**Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi**_. (JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone) He stares into the mirror for a bit and briefly sees his parents as the mirror reads him and then the reflection resolves into him and Hermione standing there, holding each other's hands and smiling. He looks around thinking Hermione had followed him on his walk but when she wasn't there he looks back into the mirror and she is still standing next to him. She blows him a kiss and then stands there by her Harry as he wraps an arm around her. He shakes his head and decides to bring Hermione tomorrow evening to look into the mirror to see what her reaction will be. He leaves the room with the mirror to return to their rooms and gets back in bed. Hermione snuggles up to him and sleepily asks," Where'd you go? It was lonely without you here to keep me warm."

"I got restless and decided to go for a walk," He whispers," I found this room with a strange mirror in it that I would like to show you tomorrow, preferably after curfew, as I don't think it would be a good idea for anyone to follow us there."

"Okay," she whispers and falls back to sleep, content to have him back by her side.

The next day of classes go slowly as Harry is anxious to show Hermione the mirror he found. When evening finally arrives and they finish their homework done for the day they retire to their rooms to await everyone else going to bed. They study ahead a little and play with Hedwig to pass the time. Around midnight they both disillusion themselves and Harry leads her to the room the mirror is in. When they enter the hallway leading to the room with the mirror an alarm is triggered in the Headmasters office letting him know Harry is returning to the Mirror Room. He had observed him the night before and decided to see what Harry would do about the mirror. Professor Dumbledore disillusions himself and takes a shortcut he knows about down to the Mirror Room to watch again. He arrives and sees no one in the room and sits down wondering what tripped the alarm.

Harry and Hermione reappear, causing the Headmaster to raise his eyebrows in surprise. _"I wonder what else they can do that I don't know about?"_ he thinks to himself.

"Okay Harry," Hermione says," we're here. What's so special about this mirror?"

"Let me stand over here and you look into it by yourself and tell me what you see." Harry says stepping over to the side out of view of the mirror.

She stands in front of the mirror while looking into it and there looking back at her is herself and Harry, even though he standing out of the way.

She looks over at him and says," That's weird. You're standing over there, but I see you standing next to me in the mirror with your arm around me and smiling back at me."

He says," There is also weird writing along the top. Maybe it will tell us something."

She reads the writing and as she is puzzling it out the Headmaster appears, startling the pair.

"Back again Harry?" the Headmaster asks," I see you brought Hermione with you this time."

"Yes sir," he replies," I came across this mirror last evening and saw myself and Hermione in it even though she wasn't with me at the time. I had to see what she thought about it."

"It is called The Mirror of Erised," The Headmaster says," Have you figured it out yet Hermione?"

"Erised," she repeats while reading the words again," Erised, that's desire, spelled backward."

She reads the words again, only backwards this time," I show not your face but your heart's desire."(JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone)

"But, all I see in there is Harry and me," she says.

"Same here," Harry says.

"What is your heart's desire?" the Headmaster asks Hermione.

"To be with Harry always and forever," She answers back instantly.

"And you Harry?" he asks.

"To be with Hermione always and forever," He answers back.

"Then you two have already found your heart's desire. You have each other and are content with your life as it is. When I look in there I see my sister alive and well, even though she died many years ago." Professor Dumbledore said the last part sadly." The mirror will have to be moved to keep others from finding it. It is very easy to get lost in the reflection and forget to live."

Harry agrees," That's probably for the best as I felt the draw to return all day while in classes. I'm alright now that I understand."

"I'm sorry to hear about your sister," Hermione says giving the professor a hug," You can be sure she is watching over you, and with your leadership of the Council of Five, you can give her something to be proud of you for."

"Thank you Hermione," Albus says his eyes tearing up," Getting to know you and Harry has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. You have turned my life around and I have a clear conscious for the first time in years."

Harry looks over at Hermione and nods.

She nods back and then turns to the professor and says," Albus, we have a kind of personal question to ask you."

"Ask away," he says.

"Have you ever been married?" she asks.

Albus looks at her with a questioning look on his face," No, I never have. I remember dating a girl when I was very young but don't remember her name anymore."

"Fawkes told me, through a memory. Her name was Alethia Draven. You were married to her for forty three years before she was killed in the war with Grindelwald, you had one child, a Josephine Dumbledore who married a Jeremiah Potter, Harry's great great grandfather. You were cursed by Grindelwald as he was trying to wipe out the descendants of the founders and wanted you to suffer by making you forget you had any family besides your brother. Lucky for us you defeated him shortly thereafter or Harry might never have been born." Hermione said," I can remove the block if you want. It will be painful, I'm sure to remember all of that, so it is up to you."

The Headmaster sits down Hard on the floor with tears in his eyes." That won't be necessary; the name of my wife was the key to unlock the memory after a ten year delay. Things could have been so much different had I known Harry, I am so sorry."

Harry and Hermione walk over and sit by the Headmaster and hug him fiercely while he cries over his loss.

"It's alright Grandpa," Harry says," Magic can do terrible things in the wrong hands."

Hermione says," Harry and I could feel a connection to you for some reason and when Fawkes came back and realized you had the memory block, he told us about it. That was another factor in us wanting to keep you around, but we weren't sure how to tell you about the block until you mentioned your sister. We felt you should have seen your wife in that mirror as well and that gave us what we needed to ask you about her."

Albus reaches around both kids and hugs them to him tightly saying," I have two grandchildren, wait until I tell Minerva. I'm so happy I can't believe it. Now, off to bed you two, and don't get caught going back to your rooms."

"We won't, Grandpa," they say and disappear.

They walk back to their room happy they were able to help Grandpa Dumbledore remember his wife and become their grandfather, as he should be. When they reach their rooms they change into pajamas then climb into bed and fall asleep with smiles on their faces.

ooOOoo

The next day after they get up and get dressed, they exit the portrait hole for their common room and head down to the Great Hall for breakfast. When they arrive Harry and Hermione spot Professor Dumbledore sitting at the head table and smile at him. He smiles back and raises his glass to them while they find a seat at the Hufflepuff table. A short time later the rest of the gang arrives and sits around them.

"What's got you and Hermione so happy this morning?" Neville asks.

Harry tells the story about how Professor Dumbledore had the memory of his wife blocked by Grindelwald after he killed the professor's wife.

"Wow, what a terrible thing to happen," Neville says.

"Yea," Harry says," But Hermione and I were able to fix it last night."

"How did you do that?" Neville asks.

Harry goes on to tell him about the visit from Fawkes and how he showed them the memory of the event happening. When they asked Professor Dumbledore if he had ever been married and he answered in the negative they knew he had a memory block. When they recited the story as told by Fawkes it triggered the release of the memory block and he then remembered everything.

"We also found out in that memory from Fawkes that Professor Dumbledore had a daughter that married my great great grandfather making him my great great great grandfather." Harry says with a grin," Too many greats, I know, but I still have a grandfather where I had none before."

"That's great Harry," Neville snickers at his own joke when he realizes what he said.

The gang all laughs along with Neville and continue eating breakfast.

Hermione turns to Harry and says," We need to visit Hagrid tonight about what we read in the paper."

"Okay," Harry agrees," We'll go after dinner."

After a productive day of classes and a nice dinner they head down to Hagrid's cabin for a visit. Harry and Hermione see the curtains are closed on the windows and smoke billowing from the chimney as they are walking down the hill.

"Wonder what he is up to?" Hermione asks.

Harry looks at her and says," let's find out."

She nods and once they arrive, Harry knocks on the door.

"Just a minute," they hear from inside.

The door opens a crack and Hagrid says," sorry, can't have visitors tonight, very busy."

Harry says back," Hagrid, you better open up, we can see you are up to something, and if we can see it, others can too."

"Oh," he says and opens the door to let them in.

They walk in and notice it is very hot inside and that Hagrid is sweating profusely. Hermione looks over at the fire and notices it is very high around a caldron with a round object inside.

"Why is it so hot in here and what is that round thing in the cauldron?" Hermione asks.

"That is a dragons egg," Hagrid says proudly," And it's about to hatch."

She gasps," Hagrid, owning a dragon in Britain is illegal, you could get into trouble. Besides, you live in a wooden house, how are you going to raise a dragon here?"

He ignores her and continues to watch the egg.

"Where did you get a dragons egg, Hagrid?" Harry asks, exasperated by Hargrid's refusal to answer Hermione's question.

"Won it off a fella at the pub last week," Hagrid answers," seemed anxious to get rid of it if you ask me. Wanted to know if I could handle it and I said after Fluffy, a dragon's egg would be no problem. Shouldn't a said that."

"It's alright Hagrid, we know about the stone and the Cerberus guarding the entrance." Hermione says with a raised eyebrow," Fluffy?"

"Yea," Hagrid responds annoyed, "That's what I named him. Raised him from a pup, I did."

"Was he interested in Fluffy?" Harry asks, interrupting Hagrid's ire at his choice of name.

"He was very interested," Hagrid said," told him Fluffy was a pushover, play a little music and he goes right ta sleep."

"Did you see what he looked like?" Hermione asks.

"No, he kept his hood up. Couldn't see his face," Hagrid answers.

"_Had to be someone sent by Quirrell,"_ Harry and Hermione think to each other, _"trying to find a way past the Cerberus."_

Meanwhile the cauldron starts shaking and rattling a lot, getting their attention. It jumps right off its hook and turns over, spilling the contents onto the floor causing the egg to start rolling toward Hermione.

"Watch out!" Hagrid exclaims.

She reaches down and picks up the egg, places it on the table which starts smoking, and then picks up the cauldron and puts it back on its hook.

Hagrid gasps, frantically grabbing for his burn ointment while crying out," Let me see your hands; that was a very daring thing to do without protection."

She calmly shows him her hands and says," its okay Hagrid, our skin is impervious to harm. It is one of the advantages of being who we are."

He gives her a funny look, not sure what she means then examines her hands for burns. Surprised at not finding any, he sighs in relief and sits back down. The dragons' egg continues its vibrations and eventually a crack appears along one side.

"Oh look, its hatching," Hagrid says.

A Norwegian Ridgeback dragon hatches from the egg and on wobbly legs walks over to Hagrid, giving a little hick-up as it walks, causing a small fireball to erupt from its mouth catching Hagrid's beard on fire.

He pats his beard out and says while looking at the baby dragon," Hello Norbert, come to mummy."

"Norbert," Harry asks?

"Well, he has to have a name dun he," Hagrid responds.

They hear a noise outside the window and look up to see Pansy Parkinson looking back at them who then jumps down and runs into the castle to tell a teacher about Harry and Hermione being out after curfew.

"Oh dear," Hagrid says, worried now about his dragon.

"Don't worry about her," Harry says, "We'll handle it."

"Hagrid," Hermione says after a minute," You can't have a dragon around a school full of children. It's too dangerous. Don't you think he would rather be with his own kind?"

"I guess," Hagrid says sadly," I just always wanted a dragon."

"I heard the Gryffindor twins have a brother that works at a dragon reserve. He can probably take him and we can arrange for you go see him when he gets a little older." Harry says," We can owl him in the morning."

"Okay," Hagrid says a little happier," At least I'll know the little beasty will be happy and I get to visit."

"Well, you just take good care of him till he gets picked up, alright Hagrid," Harry says with a smile.

"Alright, Harry," Hagrid smiles back.

ooOOoo


	15. Detention and a Confrontation

_**Chapter 15: Detention and a Confrontation**_

They leave the hut with the intention of returning to the Castle to finish their homework and to talk to the twins about the dragon. On the way back they meet Professor McGonagall coming out of the castle with concern on her face while Pansy is following looking smug.

"Harry? Hermione?" she asks," What are you doing out here so late?"

"We went to visit Hagrid and the time got away from us," Harry replies," We were going to see you in the morning about it."

He looks over at Pansy and asks," Shouldn't Pansy be in her dorm by now? It's a bit dangerous for her to be wandering around alone after dark."

"It should be just as bad for you as well Potter." She huffs; disappointed they are not in trouble.

"Be quiet Miss Parkinson," Professor McGonagall says," You will have to serve detention for being out yourself."

"But what about them?" she wails," aren't they in trouble too?"

"Let's return to my office and see what we can do about detention for everyone." The professor says sternly while looking each of them in the eye.

Pansy smirks at the Potters, sure now she had succeeded in her task to get them in trouble. The group walks up to the castle and enters Professor McGonagall's office where she sits behind her desk. She looks at each one of the three children and sighs.

"Miss Parkinson, while it was good of you to let me know someone was out after curfew, it does not negate the fact that you also were out of your dorm." She says," That will be five points from Slytherin and detention with Hagrid tomorrow night. Now return to your dorm while I talk to the Potters about their detention."

She huffs and storms out to go back to her dorm, mad at not getting to hear about the Potters detention.

After Pansy left, she turns to the Harry and asks," What were you doing down at Hagrid's that kept you late?"

"We just went to see what he knew about the robbery at Gringotts and got sidetracked when we saw smoke billowing out of his chimney, much more than usual," Harry answers," we were going to tell you about it in the morning but now is as good a time as any."

"Hagrid was trying to hatch a dragon egg," Hermione says," He succeeded too. The dragon is a Norwegian Ridgeback and he has it in his cabin right now. I told him it was illegal to have a dragon in Britain and that we would arrange to have the Weasley twins contact their brother Charley to pick up the dragon before it got too big or burns down his house."

McGonagall leans back in her chair," The fool" she whispers.

"I will make the arrangements for the pickup. Thanks for telling me." She says.

They nod at her thanks, but knew there was more coming and weren't disappointed.

"Since you want our guidance, I am going to deduct five points each from Hufflepuff and give you detention with Hagrid tomorrow night as well," the professor says," but your detention is to help Hagrid protect Miss Parkinson while you are in the forest. Something is killing the unicorns and he needs help tracking it down. Normally, I wouldn't send children into the forest at night, even with Hagrid, but Miss Parkinson needs a lesson about roaming the grounds alone after dark and I know you can keep her safe."

Harry looks at Hermione and then back at the professor and says," We understand and will be glad to do our detention as instructed. We got caught out after curfew when we should have known better and got permission first."

"Very well," Professor McGonagall says smiling at them," Mr. Filch will escort you two and Miss Parkinson down to Hagrid after dinner tomorrow. Now get on to your dorm and try to stay out of trouble."

"Yes Ma'am," They reply in unison.

The professor just shoos them out of her office and they head back to their dorm for the night where they finish up their homework for the evening then go to bed thinking about their interesting day and the detention tomorrow.

The next morning at breakfast Harry and Hermione go up to Professor Snape to talk to him.

"You heard about Pansy being out last night professor?" Hermione asks.

"Yes, I hear she has detention with you two and Hagrid tonight. I was very disappointed in her being out without permission and gave her a detention of my own." He says," She's too young to be alone outside after dark."

"We were out as well and our detention is to protect her while we are in the forest tonight. Hopefully she will understand it is not safe out and she will learn her lesson. We just wanted to reassure you that we will watch her closely. You have our word." Harry says.

"Thank you Harry, I know you will. She is just a child and her pure-blood arrogance is going to get her into a lot of trouble." Professor Snape says.

"That is one of the things we are trying to change and starting with the young ones will be the best way to do it. One baby step at a time." Hermione says.

After a full day of classes and a good dinner Mr. Filch comes to collect them from the Great Hall with Pansy in tow not looking too happy.

While walking down to Hagrid's hut she complains," I don't see why I have to go. I didn't do anything wrong."

Mr. Filch just looks at her and growls," You were caught out after curfew, just like these two miscreants. You will need to keep your wits about you tonight going into the forest with Hagrid."

"Into the forest," she shrieks, now scared, "There's werewolves and such in there."

"Oh, there's more than that in there little lady, should have thought of that before," he says while knocking on Hagrid's door.

Hagrid answers the door and Filch says," Here's three miscreants for you Hagrid. I'll pick them up in the morning."

"No need," Hagrid says," I'll take them back when I'm done with them."

"Suit yourself," Mr. Filtch says and walks back up the hill to the castle.

Hagrid grabs his crossbow and turns to the children," Something's been killing the unicorns in the forest and we are going see if we can find out what. I need extra eyes to keep a look out."

As they walk into the forest, Hagrid bends down and runs his fingers though a silvery substance on the ground. He also notices a trail disappearing further into the darkness.

"Unicorn blood," He says in disgust," who would do such a thing. Follow me and stay near."

They follow the trail until it splits up with one going left while the other goes straight ahead.

"Looks like we will have to split up. Harry you take Pansy and follow the strait path and me and your Mrs. will take the other path. Yell out if you need help." Hagrid says.

Harry notices Pansy is shaking like a leaf and says to her," Don't worry Pansy, I promised Professor Snape I would keep you safe."

She looks at him with a scared look," How can you keep me safe, you're the same age as me."

He looks at her and says," I assure you we will be safe. I can't explain why right now so let's just see where this trail leads, shall we?"

They follow the silvery blood further into the forest and when they come around a rather large tree they see a unicorn on the ground with something black and misty hovering over it. The creature hears them and when it looks up at them, its red eyes flash, causing Pansy to scream and faint dead away. It hovers for a second highly agitated at being caught and extending its claws, makes straight for Harry who was just about to erect a shield when something big and heavy jumps over him scaring the creature away. The something turned out to be a centaur with a white mane of hair and a regal air about him.

He turns to Harry and says," Harry Potter, you should not be out here. It is not safe in the forest for you."

Harry looks at him in awe and says," You're a centaur, aren't you."

He nods," Yes, my name is Firenze."

"Pleased to meet you," Harry says as Pansy wakes up," What was that creature feeding on the unicorn?"

"Can you not think what it was? Unicorn blood will keep you alive, even if you are close to death, but at a terrible price. You will live a cursed life, a half-life."

"You mean to say that was Voldemort?" Harry asks.

About that time Hagrid and Hermione come around the tree and as soon as she spots the unicorn Hermione gasps.

"We've got to help it Harry."

"I agree," Harry says.

Harry and Hermione walk over to the unicorn and kneel down next to it placing their hands over the wound; they start to glow brightly, healing the wound on the unicorn's neck. After a few minutes the unicorn shudders and stands up. Hermione and Harry wrap their arms around it and give it a hug letting it know it is safe and bid it to return to its home.

Everyone watches in awe as Harry and Hermione heal the downed unicorn and when they are finished Firenze bows his head with deep respect and says," Elders, for that is what you truly are, you have done a great service to the forest tonight, I will spread the word, you will always be welcome here."

"Thank you Firenze, may your herd be fruitful and multiply." Harry answers respectfully.

Harry looks over at Pansy and asks," Are you alright now? You had a bad fright there."

"Elders; father said they were only a legend," She whispers to herself, and then answers louder," I'm fine, thank you Elder."

"You understand the danger about being out alone now and why you got into trouble?" He asks her.

"Yes, Elder, I have learned my lesson well." She says respectfully.

"It's just Harry and Hermione, Pansy." Harry says as they walk back to the castle together.

As the group approaches the front doors they see Professor Snape waiting for them.

"Here she is professor, all safe and sound as promised." Harry says," She had a bit of a fright when we found what was killing the unicorns but I think she will be fine now and we will take care of the creature responsible."

"Thank you Mr. Potter." Professor Snape says," I'll take her from here."

"They healed a unicorn that was on the ground," Pansy says, "It was awesome to watch."

Professor Snape smiles at her and says," Come along Miss Parkinson. Let's get you back to your dorm. Good night Mr. and Mrs. Potter."

"Good night professor," Harry and Hermione say in unison as they walk back to the Hufflepuff dorms.

Needless to say, it didn't take them long to get to sleep after the long day.

ooOOoo

The next morning the couple awakes and after getting cleaned up and dressed, exit their rooms into the main Hufflepuff common room where they run into Professor Sprout.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter," She says," The headmaster would like to see you in his office before breakfast."

"Thank you professor," Hermione says," We'll head there right now."

They exit out the portrait hole and proceed to the Headmaster's office on the sixth floor where after pausing for the gargoyle to move, go up the stairs and knock on the door.

"Enter," Comes from inside.

Harry and Hermione enter the office and stand in front of the desk.

"You wanted to see us Grandpa?" Hermione asks.

Professor Dumbledore smiles at her and says," Yes, I have to go the London for a couple of days to attend a Wizengamot committee meeting. There are a couple of minor laws to be brought before the assembly for possible adding to the next major session that will need to be voted on and I want to be there to head off any disasters."

"Anything we should worry about? Do you need our proxy's?" Harry asks.

"Not this time, but that is something we should discuss sometime in the future since you control five votes. You should have a separate proxy for each house until you come of age."

Harry and Hermione look at each other and think,_" The council of five, five votes, perfect."_

"What about each of the council be a proxy for their house as our representative and I allow you to vote for House Potter. Each head understands his or her house better than anyone and they can consult with us for a final vote tally. We can always be available in the gallery for consultation and it would the perfect opportunity for us to learn how the government works." Hermione states excitedly, eager to learn.

"That is an excellent idea," Albus says," The major sessions are usually in the summer and should not interfere with their teaching. I will consult with them upon returning."

"Okay Grandpa," Harry says," We'll keep an eye on Quirrell as I'm sure he will try to take advantage of your absence to steal the stone. We will try to save him if we can as I'm pretty sure it was him we saw last night being forced to drink unicorn blood."

"I will make an announcement at breakfast about being gone," Albus says," You two be careful around him. He can be very dangerous."

"Don't worry about us Grandpa, We can handle **him**," Hermione states emphatically.

"Very well," he gets up from his desk and opens the door," Shall we?"

The Headmaster and the Potters proceed to the Great Hall for breakfast where they split up, with the Potters heading for the Hufflepuff table and the Headmaster to his throne like chair at the head table.

Professor Quirrell sits at the head table watching the three, wondering what they were up to.

_"Must be school business,"_ he thinks to himself as professor Dumbledore stands up and taps his fork on his goblet getting everyone's attention.

"May I have your attention please," He asks?

Everyone quiets down and turns to him expectantly.

"I will be leaving the school for a couple of days for a Wizengamot meeting and will return on Friday. Professor McGonagall will be in charge until I get back. That is all, thank you." He says, and then sits down to eat his breakfast.

_"Perfect,"_ Quirrell thinks,_" with the old fool gone I will have an easy time of it."_

Harry thinks to Hermione while watching Quirrell,_" Look at Professor Quirrell smirking, I do believe he took the bait."_

_"He will go tonight I'm sure,"_ Hermione thinks back.

_"We'll be ready; I just hope the unicorn blood didn't damage the professor beyond our ability to counter."_ Harry thinks to her.

_"Me too,"_ was all she could think as well.

After breakfast the duo head to their first class of the day with their house which was Potions. On the way they run into Pansy and her friends going the other way. Most of Pansy's friends sneer at the Potters as they approach but Harry ignores them and looks at Pansy and asks:

"Did you sleep well last night Pansy?"

She stops and looks at him; and with a smile says," Yes, Elder, I slept very well thank you. I don't think I would have made it last night if you hadn't been there. I feel a lot safer knowing you and Hermione are here to protect us."

"Thank you for your kind words Pansy, please tell all of your friends about the lesson you learned. They may not all believe you but I'm glad you understand." Hermione says.

As they continue on their way they could hear whispered," Elders," by the others in disbelief as Pansy explains what happened and what she had found out about the Potters. When they get to the Potions classroom Harry and Hermione go up to Professor Snape and ask to speak with him. The professor agrees and leads them into his office.

"What can I do for you?" He asks them.

"There are a couple of things actually. The first is Quirrell will probably try to steal the stone tonight. We ask that you discreetly inform the other teachers and make sure everyone is in their dorms to minimize the danger." Harry says.

"So he **is **the one going after it. I thought I spotted him trying to get onto the third floor during the troll incident." Severus says.

"He has a face on the back of his head and we think he is being controlled by Voldemort. We were able to trace your mark to him when we removed it." Harry confirms.

"The other thing has to do with the Wizengamot,"Hermione says," Harry and I would like each head of house to be our proxy and vote for their founder in the summer session. You would represent Salazar Slytherin as you understand the workings of your house and how it should vote. I know you understand the real Salazar Slytherin and not the made up stories. We will be in the gallery for consultation if needed. The same goes for the other heads. We will have a meeting about it when Grandpa gets back."

"I would be honored," Professor Snape says formally.

"Okay, we can go into details at the meeting of the council." Harry says," Let's get class started."

The professor leads them back into the classroom and starts off by explaining the ingredients for today's potion and how to prepare them. As the potions are brewing he walks around the classroom helping as needed while thinking to himself in satisfaction,_" This is what I wanted in life. Harry and Hermione are the ones that made it possible and I will forever be grateful."_

Harry and Hermione could see the professor was happy and gave each other a pat on the back for a job well done. After potions, the rest of the day flows smoothly for the Potters and at dinner Professor McGonagall announces a 9 O'clock curfew since the Headmaster is gone and the castle will be locked up at that time.

Around ten that evening Harry and Hermione disillusion themselves and proceed to the third floor to see if Quirrell has taken the bait. When they arrive and open the door they see Fluffy is asleep with a harp playing music over on the side. As soon as the door is closed the harp stops playing and Fluffy wakes up. He couldn't see anyone there but could smell them and starts growling.

Harry waves his hand at the dog and says," Sleep."

Fluffy goes back to sleep and Harry levitates him over to the corner of the room to uncover the trap door which he opens. They reappear and look down through the door and even though it is dark they can see there is a plant down below covering another opening.

"Lady's first," Harry says.

Hermione smiles at him and floats down to the next level stopping just above the plant.

Harry joins her and she says," That looks like Devils Snare, a bright light should make it retreat enough to get through."

She conjures a bright ball of light causing the plant to shrink in on all sides creating an opening which they float through. After landing on the floor the couple walks down a hallway and come to a room with what looks like flying insects in the rafters. After examining them closely they determine they are keys and one is needed for the next door. Harry sees a broom floating nearby and as soon as he touches it the keys get agitated and start flying around real fast. When he lets go the keys settle down and float serenely.

"The keys seem to be tied to the broom. I'm going to try something." Harry says.

"Okay, Harry," Hermione says," Look for an old fashioned one with a broken wing. If Quirrell came through here he probably damaged it trying to out fly it on that old broom."

Harry looks up and when he spots the one he wants, pushes off with his feet causing himself to fly up to the key very fast and while he grabs the key, he overshoots his mark breaking one of the rafters in two. He stops and hovers while he repairs the rafter and then flies back down to Hermione.

"Looks like we can fly," Harry says," I need to learn how to control it better though."

"We will practice this summer where no one can see us," Hermione responds.

After opening the door with the key they proceed into the next room where torches flare to life showing a room full of destruction.

"Looks like there used to be a chess set in here," Hermione says.

"You know," Harry says," All of these rooms have obstacles in them that a first year student with any smarts at all could figure out. Quirrell would have no trouble, hence the destroyed chess set."

"It would have been nice to play our way through, just for fun," Hermione says wistfully.

The next room contains a dead troll.

"Now that wouldn't have been fun for a first year. Too bad it is dead and can't be returned to its home." Harry says.

They open the next door not sure what to expect when they spot a table with potions bottles lined up on it. As soon as they enter and close the door flames spring up in front and behind them to prevent them from leaving the room. Hermione spots a parchment on the table and reads it.

"It's a logic puzzle explaining which bottle to use to go through each set of flames. While this would work on a normal wizard or witch it doesn't apply to us," Hermione states.

She sets the parchment down and they proceed through the flames to the next door. They enter the last room where they encounter Professor Quirrell standing in front of the Mirror of Erised.

"Hello Professor," Harry says," Not finding what you are looking for?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, what a pleasant surprise," He sneers without a bit of stutter.

"I see your speech has improved," Hermione says pleasantly.

He ignores her while looking into the mirror muttering," I can see myself with the stone but can't see how to get it."

Harry feels someone trying to probe his mind which he blocks effortlessly and then hears a hissing voice," Use the boy,"

Quirrell spins around and points his wand at Harry to force him up to the mirror, which he allows, making him look directly into it, and asks," What do you see?"

"I see what I always see when I look into this mirror. I see myself standing next to Hermione with my arm around her smiling back at me." Harry says as he feels the stone drop into his pocket.

"He lies," the hissing voice says," Let me talk to him."

"But master, you are not strong enough." Quirrell says.

"I am strong enough for this," the voice says.

Quirrell then proceeds to unwrap the turban from around his head revealing a hideous face on the back of his head with slits where the nose should be and an evil sneer in its expression.

"See what I have become, Harry Potter," Voldemort says," I am a parasite having to live off others, just to exist, while having to drink unicorn blood to stay alive. Now, give me the stone, I know you have it."

"Your face hasn't improved any since you tried to kill me as a baby. What makes you think I would give you the stone even if I had it?" Harry responds calmly.

"Because I will torture and kill your mudblood if you don't and then the same for you," Voldemort says, not understanding why they aren't afraid of him.

"Very well, "Harry says pulling the stone out of his pocket and handing it to Hermione." Would you hold this for me dear?"

"Sure Harry," She responds.

"Why did you give it to her?" Voldemort screeches while pointing his wand at Hermione," Give it to me; Crucio!"

The spell hits Hermione and has no effect as she stands there passively.

"What is this?" Voldemort asks astonished his spell didn't work.

Harry waves his hand at Quirrell, freezing his body in place, while leaving the head free," That's enough!"

"Hermione, would you do the honors?" Harry asks.

"What honors?" Voldemort asks scared for the first time tonight.

He watches as Hermione holds out the stone in her right hand and squeezes. The stone pulverizes into a fine powder and drifts down to the floor.

"Nooooo," Voldemort yells, he is really scared now as he can't escape from Quirrell's body.

Harry looks at Hermione and says," It's time."

They levitate Quirrell into a horizontal position on the floor and lay their hands on his forehead where they begin to glow softly. They pour all of their love for each other and their compassion for the professor through their hands and into his body causing it to start glowing as well. This is pure agony to the parasite and it is forced to let go of its host without killing it as it usually does. A green mist starts to coalesce above Quirrells head forming an outline of a person which then tries to steal some of Harry's magic by going through him on its way out of the chamber but bounces off instead and has to make its way on its own without the extra boost it was hoping for.

Harry calls out," Tippy."

The elf appears at their side and looks at the professor and smiles." I see you were able to free him Elders. I knew him before he was possessed and he is a good wizard. I will take him to Madam Pomfrey for you."

"Thank you Tippy," Harry says.

As she pops away with Quirrell Harry and Hermione begin their journey back the way they came and run into Professor Dumbledore in the key room.

"Hi Grandpa," Harry says cheerfully.

Said Grandpa hugs both his grandchildren relieved they are alright and asks," How's Professor Quirrell?"

"He should be alright; we removed all the bad memories of his possession and replaced them with normal teaching ones from the classes we attended with him. He will think he has been teaching his classes and nothing is wrong." Hermione says," He should be back to his original self by morning. Oh, and the stone has been destroyed."

"That is really good news; I look forward to having the young man back to normal and the Flamels will be relieved to know they have been released from their curse." Grandpa says.

They are walking along for a few minutes when Harry suddenly says, "We learned something new today Grandpa. Would you like to see?"

Grandpa smiles at their enthusiasm and says," Sure, show me what you learned."

Harry and Hermione look at each other grinning and each grab an arm of their grandfather and with him in their grasp fly carefully back up to the third floor corridor.

"Oh my," Grandpa exclaims," this is delightful."

The next morning at breakfast everyone is looking up at the head table, watching as Professor Quirrell is sitting there, without his turban, having a conversation with Professor Snape and laughing about something the other said. After a year of having classes with a stuttering Professor Quirrell, watching him act so normal causes even most of the Slytherins to smile at the pair. Harry and Hermione are content that another life was saved from the evil that is Voldemort. A week later finds the gang at the leaving feast enjoying their dinner when Professor Dumbledore walks over and steps into the lectern where he rises up a foot or so. He taps on the side of his goblet with his spoon.

"May I have your attention please?" He asks the students.

Everyone quiets down and looks at him expectantly.

"Now that we are all fed and watered, it is time to award the house cup. Due to the closeness of all the quidditch matches this year I am happy to announce the house cup was won on academics for a change instead of prowess on a broom. In fourth place with 273 points is Slytherin House."

He pauses while everyone claps for Slytherin, even though they weren't too happy with their results.

"Next, in third place with 337 points is Gryffindor House."

The applause was slightly louder with the twins being rambunctious and dancing around.

"In second place with 409 points is Ravenclaw House, Well done Ravenclaw, well done."

Everyone claps and cheers for their good showing.

"Finally in first place, for the first time in memory, with 479 points, the House Cup is awarded to Hufflepuff House. Well done Hufflepuff, you have shown that with hard work and loyalty to your friends you can accomplish anything you set your minds to."

The applause is thunderous as everyone stands up for Hufflepuff. Cheering loudly, they all throw their hats up into the air celebrating the end of the school year.

ooOOoo


End file.
